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THE   SHORT  COURSE   SERIES 


THE   SEVENFOLD  /  AM 


GENERAL     PREFACE 


The  title  of  the  present  series  is  a  sufficient 
indication  of  its  purpose.  Few  preachers, 
or  congregations,  will  face  the  long  courses 
of  expository  lectures  which  characterised 
the  preaching  of  the  past,  but  there  is  a 
growing  conviction  on  the  part  of  some 
that  an  occasional  short  course,  of  six  or 
eight  connected  studies  on  one  definite 
theme,  is  a  necessity  of  their  mental  and 
ministerial  life.  It  is  at  this  point  the  pro- 
jected series  would  strike  in.  It  would 
suggest  to  those  who  are  mapping  out  a 
scheme  of  work  for  the  future  a  variety  of 
subjects  which  might  possibly  be  utilised  in 
this  way. 

The  appeal,  however,  will  not  be  restricted 
to    ministers    or    preachers.      The   various 
volumes  will  meet  the  needs  of  laymen  and 
ii 


General  Preface 

Sabbath-school  teachers  who  are  interested 
in  a  scholarly  but  also  practical  exposition 
of  Bible  history  and  doctrine.  In  the  hands 
of  office-bearers  and  mission-workers  the 
"  Short  Course  Series  "  may  easily  become 
one  of  the  most  convenient  and  valuable 
of  Bible  helps. 

It  need  scarcely  be  added  that  while  an 
effort  has  been  made  to  secure,  as  far  as 
possible,  a  general  uniformity  in  the  scope 
and  character  of  the  series,  the  final  re- 
sponsibility for  the  special  interpretations 
and  opinions  introduced  into  the  separate 
volumes,  rests  entirely  with  the  individual 
contributors. 

A  detailed  list  of  the  authors  and  their 
subjects  will  be  found  at  the  close  of  each 
volume. 


Volumes  Already  Published 

A  Cry  for  Justice:  A  Study  in  Amos. 

By  Prof.  John  E.  McFadyen,  D.D. 

The  Beatitudes. 

Rev.  Robert  H.  Fisher,  D.D. 

The  Lenten  Psahns. 
By  the  Editor. 

The  Psakn  of  Psalms. 

By  Prof.  James  Stalker,  D.D. 

The  Song  and  the  Soil. 

By  Prof.  W.  G.  Jordan,  D.D. 

The  Higher  Powers  of  the  Soul. 

By  Rev.  George  M'Hardy,  D.D. 

Jehovah-Jesus. 

By  Rev.  Thomas  Whitelaw,  D.D. 

The  Sevenfold  I  Am. 

By  Rev.  Thomas  Marjoribanks,  B.D. 

The  Man  Among  the  Myrtles. 
By  the  Editor. 


Price  6o  cents  net  per  Volume 


CHARLES  SCRIBNER'S  SONS 


TLbc  Sbort  Courge  Series 

EDITED  BY 

Rev.  JOHN  ADAMS,  B.D. 


THE  SEVENFOLD 
I    AM 


BY  THB 


Rev.  THOMAS  MARJORIBANKS,  B.D. 


COLINTON 


NEW  YORK 

CHARLES  SCRIBNER'S  SONS 

1913 


BT  30  (, 


TO 

MY    PARISHIONERS 
PAST   AND  PRESENT 


CONTENTS 


VAOK 

I.  Christ  and  our  Darkness  •  .       i 

«*/  am  the  Light  of  the  World:* 

II.  Christ  and  our  Homelessness    .  •     21 

** I  am  the  Door" 

III.  Christ  and  our  Waywardness     .  .     41 

*'I  am  the  Way,  the  Truth,  and  the  Life:' 

IV.  Christ  and  our  Helplessness     .  .     63 

"/  am  the  Good  Shepherd:' 

V.  Christ  and  our  Faintness  .  .     83 

••/  am  the  Bread  of  Life:* 

VI.  Christ  and  our  Barrenness        .  .    loi 

*'/  am  the  Vine,  ye  are  the  Branches,** 

VII.  Christ  and  our  Deadness  .  .    121 

"  /  am  the  Resurrection  and  the  Life:* 

Appendix         .  .  •  .  .141 

Index    .  •  •  •  •  •    i45 

vii 


"Not  as  one  blind  and  deaf  to  our  beseeching, 
Neither  forgetful  that  we  are  but  dust, 

Not  as  from  heavens  too  high  for  our  up-reaching, 
Coldly  sublime,  intolerably  just : 

"Nay,  but  Thou  knewest  us,    Lord    Christ,  Thou 
knowest, 

Well  Thou  rememberest  our  feeble  frame; 
Thou  canst  conceive  our  highest  and  our  lowest, 

Pulses  of  nobleness  and  aches  of  shame  .  .  . 

"  Yea,  thro'  life,  death,  thro'  sorrow  and  thro'  sinning, 
He  shall  suffice  me,  for  He  hath  sufficed : 

Christ  is  the  end,  for  Christ  was  the  beginning, 
Christ  the  beginning,  for  the  end  is  Christ." 

F.  W.  H.  Myers,  Saint  Paul 


I 

CHRIST  AND  OUR  DARKNESS 


CHRIST  AND   OUR   DARKNESS 

«  I  AM  the  Light  of  the  world :  he  that  followeth  Me 
shall  not  walk  in  darkness,  but  shall  have  the  Light  of  life." 
— St.  John  viii.  12. 

Probably  nothing  in  all  nature  has  been 
more  constantly  used  to  express  spiritual 
ideas  than  light.  This  is  perhaps  owing  to 
the  fact  that  light,  besides  being  a  great 
blessing  in  itself,  is  the  indispensable  pre- 
liminary to  a  great  many  others.  "  Let  there 
/]  be  light "  is  the  first  word  spoken  on  the  day 
of  Creation  ;  not  till  that  has  been  achieved 
can  anything  else  take  shape  or  form.  Light 
is  so  indispensable  to  our  work,  so  closely 
associated  with  our  knowledge,  so  necessary 
to  our  happiness,  that  even  when  we  use  the 
word  figuratively  we  forget  that  it  is  a  figure. 
Darkness  becomes  inevitably  associated  with 

3 


The  Sevenfold  I  AM 

ignorance,  sorrow,  sin  ;  light  with  know- 
ledge, truth,  happiness.  All  great  religions, 
notably  that  of  ancient  Persia,  have  symbol- 
ised the  conflict  of  good  and  evil  as  a  strife 
between  the  powers  of  light  and  those  of 
darkness.  In  the  Bible,  from  Genesis  to 
Revelation,  we  find  light  employed  to  signify 
the  highest  of  blessings  not  only  in  the 
natural  but  in  the  spiritual  world.  On  its 
very  last  page  is  the  promise  "  There  shall  be 
no  night  there." 

It  is  interesting  to  trace  what  Scripture 
says  of  light  in  relation  to  God  Himself. 
At  first  it  might  seem  that  there  is  little  light 
about  Him  ;  He  dwells  in  the  thick  darkness 
and  makes  the  clouds  His  chariot.  Gradu- 
ally, however,  we  are  made  to  see  that  the 
darkness  is  not  in  Himself,  but  in  men's 
conceptions  of  Him.  More  and  more  of  His 
nature  is  unfolded,  more  and  more  of  His 
light  revealed.  Till  at  last  we  reach  the 
emphatic  testimony  of  St.  John — "God  is 
light,  and  in  Him  is  no  darkness  at  all." 

The  coming  of  the  Messiah  was  more  than 
once  referred  to  as  a  light  to  illumine  the 
4 


Christ  and  Our  Darkness 

world's  darkness.  Isaiah  had  said,  "The 
people  that  walked  In  darkness  have  seen  a 
great  light ;  they  that  dwell  in  the  land  of 
the  shadow  of  death,  upon  them  hath  the 
light  shined."  Zacharias,  in  the  "BenedictuSy 
speaks  of  Him  as  "  the  Dayspring  from  on 
high,"  sent  "  to  give  light  to  them  that  sit 
in  darkness  and  in  the  shadow  of  death,  to 
guide  our  feet  into  the  way  of  peace."  St. 
John  says,  "  In  Him  was  life  ;  and  the  life 
was  the  light  of  men.  And  the  light  shineth 
in  darkness,  and  the  darkness  comprehended 
it  not.  .  .  .  That  was  the  true  Light,  which 
lighteth  every  man  that  cometh  into  the 
world."  These  and  other  sayings  prepare  us 
for  the  gracious  yet  lofty  claim  which  our 
Lord  Himself  makes  here — "  I  am  the  Light 
of  the  world  :  he  that  followeth  Me  shall  not 
walk  in  darkness,  but  shall  have  the  Light  of 
life." 

The  Occasion. 

The  circumstances  under  which  the  words 
were  spoken  are  worthy  of  special  notice. 
Scholars  are  fairly  well  agreed  that  the  pas- 

5 


The  Sevenfold  I  AM 

sage,  St.  John  vii.  53-viii.  11,  immediately 
preceding  this  verse,  and  containing  the 
account  of  the  woman  taken  in  adultery,  is 
an  interpolation,  and  ought  not  to  stand  where 
it  does.  This  makes  our  text  immediately 
follow  what  is  said  in  the  previous  chapter  as 
to  the  events  which  happened  at  the  Feast  of 
Tabernacles.  This  feast  was  a  sort  of  national 
harvest-home,  in  which  the  people  dwelt  in 
booths  to  remind  them  of  those  their  fathers 
had  dwelt  in  when  they  first  came  out  of 
Egypt.  Two  customs,  observed  at  this 
festival,  merit  our  attention  in  view  of  our 
Lord's  words.  In  one  of  them  the  element 
used  was  water.  The  people  went  each 
morning,  after  sacrifice,  to  the  fountain  of 
Siloam.  The  priest  filled  a  golden  pitcher 
from  the  fountain,  and  brought  it  back  amid 
general  manifestations  of  rejoicing,  after 
which  it  was  poured  out  beside  the  altar  of 
burnt  offering.  In  the  other  ceremony  the 
symbol  was  fire,  or  light.  On  the  evenings 
of  the  festival  the  temple-courts  were  illu- 
minated by  four  great  candelabra  erected  in 
the  court  of  the  women.  There  a  sort  of 
6 


Christ   and  Our  Darkness 

sacred  dance  was  held,  to  the  accompaniment 
of  singing  and  playing  on  instruments.  Both 
of  these  strange  ceremonies  were  full  of  sig- 
nificance, as  reminding  the  people  of  events 
which  had  occurred  in  the  wilderness.  The 
two  chief  terrors  of  the  desert  are  its  water- 
lessness  and  its  pathlessness.  God  had 
supplied  both  of  these  wants.  He  had 
given  His  people  water  from  the  smitten 
rock,  and  He  had  given  them  a  pillar  of  fire 
to  guide  them  on  their  way.  The  water 
from  the  rock,  then,  was  commemorated  at 
the  Feast  of  Tabernacles  by  the  pouring  out 
of  water  from  the  golden  pitcher,  while  the 
pillar  of  fire  was  recalled  by  the  lighting  of 
the  great  lamps.  In  speaking  of  Himself 
and  His  influence,  our  Lord  makes  use  of 
both  symbols.  Referring  to  the  water.  He 
says,  "  If  any  man  thirst,  let  him  come  unto 
Me  and  drink,"  and  adds,  "  He  that  believeth 
on  Me,  as  the  Scripture  hath  said,  out  of  his 
bosom  shall  flow  rivers  of  living  water." 
That  is,  If  you  come  to  Me,  not  only  will 
your  own  spiritual  thirst  be  quenched,  but 
you  will  be  the  means,  through  Me,  of  satis- 
7 


The  Sevenfold  I  AM 

fying  the  spiritual  thirst  of  other  men. 
Then,  referring  to  the  light,  He  says,  "  I  am 
the  Light  of  the  world,"  and  adds,  "  He  that 
foUoweth  Me  shall  not  walk  in  darkness,  but 
shall  have  the  Light  of  life."  That  is.  If  you 
come  to  Me,  not  only  will  your  own  spiritual 
darkness  be  enlightened,  but  you  will  have 
within  yourself,  through  Me,  that  which 
will  make  you  in  turn  a  light  to  yourself  and 
others.  From  the  simple  elements  of  water 
and  light,  and  from  the  associations  which 
these  called  up  in  the  hearts  of  the  people, 
our  Lord  thus  draws  two  lessons  about  His 
own  work  for  and  through  men.  He 
gives  life  to  the  thirsty  and  light  to  the 
darkened. 

The  figures  are  both  suggestive,  and  the 
difference  between  them  is  no  less  striking 
than  their  resemblance.  Water  and  light 
satisfy  two  great  human  needs,  but  they 
satisfy  them  in  different  ways.  Water  can- 
not affect  a  man's  thirst  till  he  comes  and 
drinks  it  Light,  on  the  contrary,  may  flash 
on  a  multitude  all  at  once,  and  with  no  con- 
scious effort  on  their  part.  The  figure  of 
8 


Christ  and  Our  Darkness 

drinking  the  living  water,  then,  is  expressive 
of  a  man's  relation  to  Christ  at  a  more 
advanced  stage.  But  the  shining  of  the 
light  is  better  adapted  to  illustrate  the  first 
contact  of  Christ  with  men — a  contact  uni- 
versal and  involuntary  on  their  part.  No 
doubt  the  second  part  of  the  sentence  is  in 
the  singular — "  he  that  foUoweth  Me."  But 
the  first  part  is  of  universal  application.  It 
is  not,  I  am  the  Light  of  this  man,  or 
of  that  man,  but  "I  am  the  Light  of  the 
world." 

Christ  the  Light. 

In  this  saying  our  Lord  makes  two  separ- 
ate statements.  He  is  at  once  the  Light  of 
the  world  and  the  Light  of  life.  First,  He  is 
the  Light  for  all — good  and  bad,  friends 
and  enemies,  followers  and  non-followers. 
Secondly,  and  in  a  fuller  though  narrower 
sense.  He  is  the  Light  for  a  certain  number 
— those  who  follow  Him,  believe  in  Him, 
possess  Him.  To  these  He  is  the  Light  of 
life — a  light  shining  within  them  as  a  source 
of  vitality  and  spiritual  influence. 
9 


The  Sevenfold  I  AM 

I.  The  Light  of  the  World. 

The  character  of  Christ's  influence — light. — 
Just  because  Jesus  Is  to  become  so  much  more 
to  men  than  this,  He  must  begin  by  being  this 
and  no  more.  Light,  as  we  saw  at  the  out- 
set, is  the  indispensable  preliminary  to  every- 
thing else.  Its  function  is  not  so  much  to 
make  things  diiFerent,  as  to  show  them  in  a 
new  and  true  aspect.  We  must  beware  of 
unduly  elaborating  the  metaphor  of  light,  or 
of  reading  into  it  meanings  other  than  our 
Lord  intended.  There  was  no  thought  in 
His  mind,  for  example,  of  the  healing  and 
cleansing  properties  which  light  is  now  known 
to  possess.  He  used  the  word  in  the  simple 
sense  of  revelation  and  illumination.  "  What- 
soever doth  make  manifest,"  says  St.  Paul,  "  is 
light."  It  is  in  this  sense  that  we  apply  the 
word  to  Christ.  Compare  the  Old  Testa- 
ment with  the  New,  and  you  find  the  Old 
like  a  dark  room  irradiated  from  time  to  time 
with  intermittent  flashes,  the  New  like  a 
room  full  of  light,  with  only  here  and  there 
a  dark   corner.     The  difference  lies  in  the 

lO 


Christ  and  Our  Darkness 

fact  that  the  New,  unlike  the  Old,  is  written 
in  the  full  light  of  Christ.  He  sheds  new 
light  on  everything.  He  reveals  God,  show- 
ing us  His  truth,  wisdom,  and  power,  and 
especially  His  fatherly  and  forgiving  love. 
He  reveals  Himself,  showing  us  in  word  and 
deed  the  nature  and  purpose  of  His  mission 
to  the  world.  He  reveals  sin,  and  its  hues 
blacken  as  they  are  brought  into  the  radiance 
of  His  light.  He  reveals  the  world,  and 
tells  us  of  the  enemies  we  must  meet  and 
conquer,  and  of  our  brothers  and  our  duties 
toward  them.  On  all  subjects  of  the  deepest 
human  interest — on  the  kingdom  of  God,  on 
man's  character  and  chief  end,  on  service  and 
sacrifice — He  informs  and  enlightens  us. 
When  He  speaks  on  these  things  He  gets  to 
the  heart  of  them.  He  brushes  aside  the 
non-essential  and  irrelevant,  and  takes  us  to 
the  root  of  the  matter.  Whatever  He 
touches  He  illumines.  Nor  can  we  confine 
the  name  "light"  to  His  teaching  alone. 
Even  His  significant  words  here  were  shortly 
followed  by  as  significant  an  act — the  restora- 
tion of  sight  to  the  blind.  In  His  whole 
II 


The  Sevenfold  I  AM 

personality,  especially  as  interpreted  in  His 
great  sacrifice  for  man,  there  shines  forth  a 
Light  greater  than  any  mere  words  can 
express — a  Light  that  may  be  rejected  but 
cannot  be  ignored. 

From  the  power  of  light  to  reveal  comes 
\  its  power  to  search,  to  test,  to  judge.  It 
throws  good  and  evil  into  strong  contrast 
Even  if  Christ  did  nothing  else,  we  should 
value  Him  for  the  searchlight  He  throws 
upon  the  world.  Men  must  become  better 
or  worse  after  having  known  Christ.  "  His 
appearing  separates  the  lovers  of  the  day  from 
the  lovers  of  the  night,  mingled  till  then  in 
the  mass  of  mankind."  He  Himself  spoke 
of  the  light  as  a  judge  between  good  and 
evil.  "  Light,"  He  said,  "  is  come  into  the 
world,  and  men  loved  darkness  rather  than 
light,  because  their  deeds  were  evil.  For 
every  one  that  doeth  evil  hateth  the  light, 
neither  cometh  to  the  light,  lest  his  deeds 
should  be  reproved.  But  he  that  doeth  truth 
cometh  to  the  light,  that  his  deeds  may  be 
made  manifest,  that  they  are  wrought  in 
God."      We  see  examples    of  this   in    the 

12 


Christ  and   Our  Darkness 

effect  which  Christ  produced  on  different 
people.  The  Pharisee  and  hypocrite  were 
repelled  by  Him  because  He  reproved  their 
deeds  and  showed  them  in  their  true  colours. 
On  the  other  hand,  those  who  "did  the 
truth,"  with  whatever  of  imperfection  and 
frailty,  came  to  the  light.  If  Christ  is  the 
great  Unifier,  He  is  first  the  great  Separator. 
With  His  revelation  of  the  beauty  of  holiness 
comes  His  revelation  of  the  ugliness  of  evil. 
The  scope  of  Christ's  influence — the  world, 
— His  appeal  is  world-wide ;  He  makes 
no  distinctions ;  He  offers  Himself  to  all. 
His  gospel  is,  "  God  so  loved  the  world  that 
He  gave  His  only -begotten  Son."  His 
claim  is,  "I  am  the  Light  of  the  world '^ 
His  commission  is,  "  Go  ye  into  all  the  worlds 
and  preach  the  gospel  to  every  creature." 
Christianity,  from  its  very  nature,  cannot 
take  its  place  as  a  local  or  partial  religion. 
It  rests  on  the  universal  forgiving  love  of 
God  as  shown  forth  in  Jesus  Christ,  and 
accordingly  makes  its  appeal  to  the  world. 
There  is  that  in  Christianity  which  can  appeal 
to  the  educated  and  to  the  ignorant,  to  the 
13 


The  Sevenfold  I  AM 

great  and  to  the  humble,  to  the  mind  of  the 
East  and  the  mind  of  the  West.  Christ 
speaks  to  men  as  men,  caring  little  for  what 
they  have,  much  for  what  they  are.  Look  at 
the  history  of  Christianity,  and  you  find  it  a 
faith  that  has  been  responded  to  by  the  genius 
of  peoples  so  widely  different  as  the  Jew,  the 
Greek,  the  Roman,  the  Teuton,  the  Celt. 
History  is  the  basis  of  prophecy,  and  prophecy 
is  already  being  fulfilled.  We  are  seeing  to- 
day how  the  Light  of  the  world  can  shine 
over  the  far  Eastern  lands — how  He  has  a 
message  for  India  and  Africa,  for  China  and 
Japan.  We  are  giving  these  nations  many 
things.  We  are  giving  them  the  fruits  of 
our  inventive  genius;  we  are  giving  them 
much  that  has  enriched  Western  life  and 
added  to  our  material  well-being.  We  are 
also  giving  them,  it  is  to  be  feared,  things 
that  will  profit  them  less.  It  has  been  said 
by  competent  observers  that  "when  an 
Eastern  and  a  Western  nation  infringe  upon 
each  other,  the  contact  in  some  mysterious 
way  tends  to  bring  out  the  worst  there  is  in 
each."     Surely,  then,  it  is  of  all  the  greater 


Christ  and  Our    Darkness 

importance  that  we  should  not  fail  to  give 
them,  with  whatever  else,  that  which  is  the 
best  of  all — the  Light  of  the  world.  We 
must  be  witnesses  of  Him  "  unto  the  utter- 
most parts  of  the  earth." 

2.  The  Light  of  Life. 

A  guiding  Light. — So  far  we  have  con- 
sidered our  Lord  as  the  Light  of  all  who  see 
Him — good  and  bad,  saints  and  sinners. 
But  His  work  does  not  end  there.  To  some 
He  is  the  Light  in  a  fuller  sense.  "  He  that 
foUoweth  Me  shall  not  walk  in  darkness." 
Light  can  guide  as  well  as  reveal.  Tenny- 
son has  told  us,  in  "  Merlin  and  the  Gleam," 
of  the  spirit  of  poetry  which  showed  him  his 
power,  and  bade  him  follow  a  pure  and  high 
ideal,  in  dark  as  In  bright  hours. 

The  light  retreated, 
The  landskip  darkened. 
The  melody  deaden' d, 
The  Master  whisper'd. 
Follow  the  gleam. 

"  Follow   the    gleam "    is    the  message   of 

Christ  also.     We  have  seen  how  He  had  in 

15 


The  Sevenfold  I  AM 

His  mind  the  guiding  pillar  in  the  wilderness 
— a  light  amid  surrounding  darkness.  This 
same  guiding  office  of  light  is  recognised  by 
the  Psalmist — "  Thy  Word  is  a  lamp  unto 
my  feet,  and  a  light  unto  my  path." 
After  the  same  manner,  too,  the  Wise  Men 
were  led  on  their  way  to  Bethlehem  by  the 
Star.  In  the  Pilgrim^s  Progress  Evangelist 
asks  Christian  if  he  can  see  the  wicket  gate, 
and  he  answers, "  No."  He  then  asks,  "  Do 
you  see  yonder  shining  light  ? "  and  on 
receiving  the  answer,  "  I  think  I  do,"  adds, 
"Keep  that  light  in  your  eye,  and  go  up 
directly  thereto,  so  shalt  thou  see  the  gate." 
So,  too,  it  was  with  Newman  when  he 
sang — 

Lead,  kindly  Light,  amid  th'  encircling  gloom, 
Lead  Thou  me  on ! 

To  those  that  follow  Him,  Christ  is  a  guid- 
ing Light.  He  leads  us  on  from  less  to 
more  ;  He  warns  us  of  hidden  dangers ;  He 
sheds  radiance  on  our  path.  *^He  that 
foUoweth  Me  shall  not  walk  in  darkness." 
An  indwelling  Light. — The  final  words, 
i6 


Christ  and  Our  Darkness 

"shall  have  the  Light  of  life,"  transcend 
even  the  figure  of  a  guiding  Light.  Indeed, 
we  need  not  unduly  press  the  idea  oi  follow- 
ing ;  elsewhere  He  speaks  of  coming  to 
the  light,  believing  in  the  light,  abiding  in 
the  light.  And  here  He  seems  to  suggest 
that  His  followers  will  have  an  experience 
transcending  that  of  the  people  of  Israel. 
They  had  but  an  external  means  of  knowing 
which  way  they  were  to  go.  His  disciples, 
on  the  other  hand,  are  to  have  a  light  within 
them,  enabling  them  to  choose  what  is  right, 
and  to  walk  as  children  of  light.  To  have  the 
Light  of  life  implies  that  it  is  not  merely  in 
front  but  within.  As  Milton  puts  the  thought — 

He  that  has  light  within  his  own  clear  breast 
May  sit  i'  the  centre,  and  enjoy  bright  day; 
But  he  that  hides  a  dark  soul  and  foul  thoughts 
Benighted  walks  under  the  mid-day  sun ; 
Himself  is  his  own  dungeon. 

George  Fox  and  the  early  Quakers  insisted 
strongly  on  this  doctrine  of  the  "  inner  light." 
They  believed  that  that  same  light  which 
revealed  and  made  manifest  would,  if  yielded 
to,  lead  out  of  sin  to  life.     The  doctrine  is 

B  17 


The  Sevenfold  I  AM 

profoundly  true.  As  St.  John  beautifully 
shows  in  his  first  Epistle,  walking  in  the 
light  and  abiding  in  the  light  are  connected 
at  once  with  fellowship  with  God  and  love  of 
our  fellow-men.  The  man  who  obeys  the 
light  becomes  himself  luminous.  The  same 
Jesus  who  said,  "I  am  the  Light  of  the 
world,"  said  also,  "  Ye  are  the  light  of  the 
world  " — a  light  which  in  its  turn  is  meant 
to  reveal  and  to  guide  and  to  inspire. 

Heaven  doth  with  us  as  we  with  torches  do ; 
Not  light  them  for  themselves ;    for  if  our  virtues 
Did  not  go  forth  of  us,  'twere  all  alike 
As  if  we  had  them  not 

And  so  the  process  goes  on,  each  lighted 
torch  lighting  another  in  turn.  In  all  ages 
and  in  all  nations  some  men  have  been  lights 
in  the  world.  They  have  shone  before  men, 
and  given  light  to  them,  passing  on  the 
radiance  received  from  Him  whose  life  is 
the  Light  of  men.  Every  Christian  can 
shine.  The  influence  of  even  the  humblest 
life  may  be  incalculable. 

How  far  that  little  candle  throws  his  beams ! 
So  shines  a  good  deed  in  a  naughty  world. 

l8 


Christ  and  Our  Darkness 

Thus,  though  the  image  of  light  seem  at 
first  to  suggest  a  very  elementary  relation 
between  Christ  and  ourselves,  it  may  carry 
us  farther  than  we  think.  Let  us  not  be 
satisfied  with  yielding  homage  to  Him  as  the 
Light  of  the  world.  Let  each  of  us  make 
Him  the  Light  for  his  or  her  individual  soul. 
To  such  He  will  become  not  merely  a  light 
above,  like  the  sun  in  the  heavens ;  nor 
even  a  light  in  front,  like  a  guiding  lamp  on 
a  winter's  night ;  but  a  light  within.  "  The 
spirit  of  man  is  the  candle  of  the  Lord/* 


19 


n 

CHRIST  AND  OUR  HOMELESSNESS 


II 

CHRIST  AND  OUR  HOMELESSNESS 

<*  I  AM  the  Door :  by  Me  if  any  man  enter  in,  he 
shall  be  saved,  and  shall  go  in  and  out,  and  find  pasture." 
— St.  John  x.  9. 

A  Door  forms  an  extremely  significant 
symbol.  It  may  be  open,  or  it  may  be 
shut ;  and,  if  it  be  shut,  there  is  all  the 
difFerence  in  the  world  between  being  on  one 
side  of  it  or  on  the  other.  The  opening  and 
shutting  of  certain  doors,  such  as  those  of 
the  Temple  of  Janus  in  Rome,  have  been 
attended  with  great  solemnity.  Artists  have 
lavished  their  highest  skill  on  doors,  and 
significant  legends  have  been  engraved  over 
them.  The  door  is  the  crucial  point ;  pass 
the  door  and  you  are  all  right ;  be  turned 
back  at  the  door  and  you  are  all  wrong.  On 
the  duty  of  keeping  some  doors  open  that 
23 


f 


The  Sevenfold  I  AM 

are  too  often  shut,  and  also  on  the  duty  of 
keeping  some  doors  shut  that  are  too  often 
open,  much  might  be  written.  The  subject 
is  a  wide  and  a  fascinating  one.  The  idea 
evidently  appealed  specially  to  the  mind  of 
our  Lord,  for  He  makes  no  less  than  three 
different  uses  of  the  symbol  to  express  the 
relation  between  Himself  and  His  people. 
Sometimes  He  is  inside  the  door,  as  where 
He  says,  "  To  him  that  knocketh  it  shall  be 
opened,"  or  in  the  parable  of  the  Virgins, 
where  "  the  door  was  shut."  Sometimes  He 
is  outside  the  door.  "Behold,  I  stand  at 
the  door,  and  knock ;  if  any  man  will  hear 
My  voice,  and  open  the  door,  I  will  come  in 
to  him,  and  will  sup  with  him,  and  he  with 
Me."  But  sometimes,  as  here.  He  is  Him- 
self the  Door,  and  this  is  His  most  significant 
use  of  the  figure.  "  I  am  the  Door  :  by  Me 
if  any  man  enter  in,  he  shall  be  saved,  and 
shall  go  in  and  out,  and  find  pasture." 

The  Occasion, 

As  usual,  the  circumstances  under  which 
the  words   were    spoken    shed   considerable 
24 


Christ  and  Our   Homelessness 

light  on  their  meaning.  In  the  previous 
chapter  we  read  of  a  work  of  healing  per- 
formed by  our  Lord  —  the  restoration  of 
sight  to  a  blind  man.  The  gratitude  which 
this  man  showed  towards  his  Healer  brought 
him  into  conflict  with  the  authorities  of  the 
synagogue,  with  the  result  that  they  "cast 
him  out" — shut  their  doors  upon  him.  On 
his  meeting  Jesus  shortly  afterwards,  our 
Lord  asked  him,  "  Dost  thou  believe  on  the 
Son  of  God  ? "  It  needs  but  a  few  words 
to  show  him  that  Jesus  is  indeed  that  Son 
of  God ;  he  says,  "  Lord,  I  believe,"  and 
worships  Him.  The  words  about  the 
sheepfold  come  almost  immediately  after- 
wards, and  probably  refer  in  the  first 
instance  to  the  case  of  this  man.  From 
the  religious  point  of  view  he  is  homeless, 
outcast,  excommunicate.  What  Jesus  ofFers 
him,  accordingly,  is  a  new  and  better  home. 
He  invites  this  man  who  has  been  *^  turned 
out  of  doors  "  to  enter  the  Door  of  the 
kingdom — to  accept  Himself. 

Many    have     been     comforted     by     the 
assurance  that  Christ's  doo£  is  open  to  them 
~~2S 


The  Sevenfold  I  AM 

though  other  doors  be  shut.  At  the 
degradation  of  Savonarola  prior  to  his 
execution,  the  Bishop  of  Vasona  said,  "  I 
separate  thee  from  the  Church  militant  and 
triumphant."  "  From  the  Church  militant," 
corrected  Savonarola,  "  not  from  the  Church 
triumphant.  The  latter  is  not  in  thy  hands." 
At  the  deposition  of  John  Macleod  Campbell 
by  the  General  Assembly  of  the  Church  of 
Scotland,  the  young  man's  father  said,  "  I 
am  not  afraid  for  my  son.  Though  his 
brethren  cast  him  out,  the  Master  whom  he 
serves  will  not  forsake  him." 

Christ  the  Door. 

This  figure  of  Christ  the  Door  is  apt  to 
be  obscured  by  the  still  greater  figure  of 
Christ  the  Good  Shepherd.  From  His 
picture  of  the  sheepfold  He  selects  these  two 
images,  and  applies  them  successively  to 
Himself.  The  relation  of  the  two  to  each 
other  may  indeed  be  closer  than  we  are  apt 
to  think.  "Door"  and  "Shepherd"  are 
not  such  mutually  exclusive  words  as  they 
appear  to  us.  A  well-known  traveller  in 
26 


Christ  and  Our  Homelessness 

Palestine  has  told  how  he  once  entered  Into 
conversation  with  a  shepherd  at  work  near  a 
sheepfold.  Many  things  he  learned  from 
him,  but  the  best  of  all  came  unexpectedly. 
Every  feature  the  traveller  expected  to  see 
was  there,  excepting  one.  "Here,"  he 
said,  "  is  the  fold  ;  there  are  the  sheep  ;  this 
is  the  doorway  ;  but  where  is  the  door  ? " 
"  Door  ?  "  asked  the  shepherd.  "  /  am  the 
door !  I  lie  across  the  entrance  at  night.  No 
sheep  can  pass  out,  no  wolf  come  in,  except 
over  my  body."  It  is  better  for  our  present 
purpose,  however,  to  take  the  two  figures 
apart  than  to  press  them  as  the  component 
parts  of  a  single  parable.  We  do  not,  it  is 
true,  find  it  easy  to  discover  to  which  figure 
some  of  the  verses  apply.  None  of  the 
attempts  to  divide  the  allegory  sharply  into 
two  have  been  quite  successful,  or  need  be 
repeated  here.  It  seems  enough  to  observe 
that  Jesus  saw  the  suggestiveness  of  both 
the  figures  Door  and  Shepherd^  Door  being 
the  more  obvious  and  general  figure.  Shepherd 
lending  itself  to  greater  elaboration.  It  is 
therefore  the  Shepherd-figure  rather  than 
27 


The  Sevenfold  I  AM 

the  Door-figure  that  He  treats  in  detail. 
With  regard  to  the  Door  He  does  not  say 
much,  yet  He  says  enough.  The  essence 
of  what  He  says  is  contained  in  this  one 
verse. 

Its  central  lesson  is  that  Christ  is  the  one 
Door,  the  one  entrance  into  the  kingdom  of 
heaven  ;  that  it  is  by  Him  and  by  Him 
alone  that  men  can  enter  their  Father's 
honie.  There  is  no  room  for  the  thief  and 
robber,  the  formalist  or  hypocrite,  who  climb 
over  the  wall  instead  of  entering  by  the  gate. 
If  the  one  Door  be  open,  it  matters  little 
what  others  remain  shut ;  but,  conversely, 
if  that  Door  be  shut,  it  matters  little  what 
others  are  open.  Christianity  must  start 
from  Christ.  It  is  impossible  to  teach  it 
apart  from  Him.  Not  without  significance 
was  the  temple-veil  rent  at  His  death, 
opening  forever  a  door  into  the  Holiest  of 
all.  The  very  panels  of  a  common  door  are 
often  arranged  so  as  to  produce  the  figure 
of  a  Cross.  It  is  said  that  this  originated 
with  a  guild  of  Carpenters,  who .  took  as 
their  emblem  the  Cross  on  the  Door,  with 
28 


Christ  and  Our  Homelessness 

the  words  of  our  text  as  motto.  The  sym- 
bolism, at  all  events,  is  a  true  one.  Christ 
and  His  Cross  are  inseparable.  Whoso 
enters  by  the  Door  must  take  up  the  Cross. 
Dr.  Elder  Cumming's  poem  expresses  the 
same  idea — 

Hast  thou  ne'er  seen  the  Cross  upon  the  Door  ? 

Yes !  it  is  on  thine  own ! 
Look,  even  now,  across  th'  accustomed  floor, 

Thou  deemest  so  well  known  ! 

You  have  not  noticed  it  ?    The  Cross  unseen. 

Though  on  the  Door  it  stands? 
Large,  clear,  in  full  relief,  as  it  had  been 

Carved  there  by  reverent  hands? 
•  •••.•• 

O  Man !  could'st  thou  have  thought  it  possible 

That  this  thing  could  have  been  ? 
The  Cross  so  large,  so  plain,  so  close  to  thee, 

And  yet  so  long  unseen? 

Yes — the  Door  that  we  enter  must  be 
the  Door  with  the  Cross  upon  it.  We  may 
find  it  a  strait  gate  ;  we  may  have  to  leave 
much  behind  as  we  go  in.  But  it  is  the  one 
Door  into  the  home  of  our  Father.  And 
the  Door  is  Christ  Himself. 
29 


The  Sevenfold  I  AM 

We  have  called  this  theme  "Christ  and 
our  homelessness "  because  what  He  offers 
us  here  is  neither  more  nor  less  than  a 
Home.  The  crossing  of  the  threshold  is  an 
entrance  into  life — life  on  a  higher  plane — 
life  hid  with  Christ  in  God. 

The  chief  benefits  of  such  a  life,  as 
described  here,  we  may  define  as  Refuge, 
Freedom,  and  Nurture. 

I.  A  Home  of  Refuge. 

"  By  Me  if  any  man  enter  in,  he  shall  be 
saved.'*  That  is  the  first  and  most  obvious 
blessing.  It  is  to  a  friendly  door  that  we 
look  for  refuge  in  a  storm.  Readers  of  The 
Pirate  will  remember  the  anger  of  the  hospit- 
able Shetlanders  at  the  bare  idea  of  keeping 
a  door  bolted  against  a  stranger  who  sought 
its  protection  from  the  tempest.  The  idea 
of  refuge  or  sanctuary  is  one  of  those  most 
deeply  rooted  in  the  feelings  of  mankind. 
We  find  the  rudiments  of  it  even  in  savage 
peoples,  such  as  the  natives  of  Central 
Australia  and  the  North  American  Indians. 
Among  more  advanced  nations  certain  places, 
30 


Christ  and  Our  Homelessness 

such  as  the  tombs  of  kings,  were  regarded 
as  asylums  where  a  fugitive  might  find 
safety.  We  find  the  erection  of  Cities  of 
Refuge  commanded  in  the  Mosaic  law,  and 
we  find  something  resembling  them  in  both 
Greece  and  Rome.  But  especially  in  the 
Church  of  Christ  has  the  idea  of  refuge 
or  sanctuary  found  favour.  Churches  were 
long  regarded  as  places  where  the  offender 
was  safe,  at  least  till  his  case  could  be  fairly 
tried.  His  capture  or  molestation  within 
the  sacred  walls  was  deemed  an  act  of 
impiety.  No  doubt  the  practice  was  often 
abused.  Criminals  of  the  worst  description 
were  sometimes  harboured,  who  could 
pursue  their  evil  courses  undeterred  by  the 
fear  of  consequences.  Yet,  as  Dean  Milman 
well  remarks,  "  there  is  something  sublime 
in  the  first  notion  of  asylum."  We  cannot 
wonder  at  the  association  of  refuge  with 
God  Himself,  as  One  who  is  at  once  strong, 
just,  and  loving.  "  God  is  our  refuge  and 
strength,"  says  the  46th  Psalm,  **a  very 
present  help  in  trouble."  And  when  our 
Saviour  calls  Himself  the  Door,  He  gives 

31 


The  Sevenfold  I  AM 

refuge  as  one  of  the  first  benefits  enjoyed  by 
those  who  enter.  "  By  Me  if  any  man  enter 
in,  he  shall  be  saved."  Saved  from  what  will 
most  harm  him  ;  saved  from  the  dangers  out- 
side ;  saved  from  evil  men  and  evil  spirits  ; 
saved  from  himself  and  from  his  sins.  Such 
hymns  as  Charles  Wesley's  "  Jesus,  Lover  of 
my  soul,'*  and  Toplady's  "Rock  of  ages,  cleft 
for  me,"  breathe  the  instinctive  cry  for  refuge 
and  safety,  for  deliverance  from  peril,  for 
salvation  from  sin.  This  is  what  Jesus  offers. 
Whatever  else  He  is.  He  is  the  Saviour — 
the  One  who  seeks  and  saves  and  rescues. 
The  primary  idea  of  a  home  is  that  of  a  roof 
to  shelter  us,  a  protection  from  danger. 
These  things  we  have  in  Christ. 

O  call  Thy  wanderer  home ; 
To  that  dear  home,  safe  in  Thy  wounded  side, 
Where  only  broken  hearts  their  sin  and  shame  may  hide. 

2.  A  Home  of  Freedom. 

"  By  Me  if  any  man  enter  in,  he  shall  .  ,  . 

go  in  and  out."     The  allusion  is  in  the  first 

place  to  the  door  of  the  sheepfold.     But  the 

words  may  be  used  with  a  wider  reference, 

32 


Christ  and  Our  Homelessness 

and  may  remind  us  of  the  liberty  wherewith 
Christ  makes  us  free.  At  first  sight  the 
idea  of  "  going  in  and  out  "  may  seem  in- 
consistent with  what  was  said  before.  We 
must  be  either  inside  or  outside  the  gate 
of  mercy.  But  the  inconsistency  is  only 
apparent.  When  the  door  has  once  been 
opened  to  the  homeless,  he  is  free  to  go  out 
as  well  as  to  come  in.  He  does  not  need  to 
knock  a  second  time  ;  he  is  made  free  of  the 
house  and  can  enter  it  when  he  chooses  ; 
even  when  out  he  is  no  longer  homeless. 
The  door  is  not  shut  to  him  on  the  inside, 
any  more  than  on  the  outside  ;  the  home  is 
no  prison.  It  is  not  to  the  cloister-life  that 
Christ  calls  His  people.  His  service  is 
perfect  freedom.  "  Where  the  Spirit  of  the 
Lord  is,  there  Is  liberty."  Jesus  found 
bondage  and  slavery  everywhere.  Not 
merely  was  the  country  of  His  birth  in 
subjection  to  a  foreign  yoke  ;  but  its  citizens 
were  enslaved  in  bonds  that  they  had  forged 
for  themselves.  No  one  was  free.  One 
class  was  governed  by  its  traditions  and 
prejudices;  another  had  intolerable  burdens 
c  33 


The  Sevenfold  I  AM 

laid  on  it  by  priestcraft;  another  was  in  a 
worse  bondage  through  being  cast  off  by  the 
rest  of  society :  all  were  in  that  deeper 
slavery  that  sin  itself  must  cause,  when  no 
way  of  escape  from  it  is  seen.  From  all  this 
Christ  came  to  make  men  free.  Not  by 
force,  not  by  political  agitation,  not  even  by 
schemes  of  social  reform,  but  by  His  Spirit 
working  from  within.  He  led  men  into  the 
free,  fresh  atmosphere  of  God's  own  truth. 
This  sense  of  freedom  we  find  in  all  the 
writers  of  the  New  Testament ;  freedom 
from  the  curse  of  the  law ;  freedom  from  the 
burden  of  their  sins  ;  freedom  given  them 
by  Christ.  Ability  to  "  go  in  and  out,"  then, 
is  one  of  the  chief  privileges  of  the  Christian 
life.  It  is  not  inconsistent  with  this  to  say 
that  it  may  make  that  life  harder  to  live. 
To  have  our  conversation  on  earth,  yet  in 
heaven  ;  our  affection  set  on  things  around, 
yet  on  things  above  ;  our  life  open  with  men 
in  the  world,  yet  hid  with  Christ  in  God  ; 
the  task  is  no  easy  one.  Yet  the  true 
Christian  is  the  man  who  can  go  in  and  out. 
He  is  the  same  man  in  his  religion  as  in  his 
34 


Christ  and  Our  Homelessncss 

business.  He  can  come  out  from  the  inner 
sanctuary  of  his  life,  fortified  by  all  he  has 
learned  there,  and  he  can  re-enter  it  with  all 
the  experience  he  has  gained  in  the  world  of 
affairs.  He  obeys  and  is  judged  by  a  law, 
but  it  is  the  "law  of  liberty." 

3.  A  Home  of  Nurture. 

"  By  Me  if  any  man  enter  in,  he  shall  •  .  . 
find  pasture."  He  shall  find  pasture  without 
as  well  as  within  ;  perhaps  more  without  than 
within.  But  his  power  to  find  it  and  to  feed 
on  it  will  depend  on  what  he  has  gained 
within  the  Door.  What  Christ  offers  us,  as 
we  have  seen  already,  is,  briefly,  a  home  ; 
and  a  home  gives  nurture  as  well  as  pro- 
tection. In  the  home  we  not  only  live ;  we 
l^row.  And  while  that  on  which  we  feed 
may  come  from  many  sources,  the  home  is 
the  centre  of  all.  We  get  ideas  from  this 
source  and  from  that ;  but  our  impressions 
are  steadied,  focused  given  their  due  per- 
spective and  proportion,  under  the  roof  which 
shelters  us.  Of  course  this  is  not  always  so  ; 
there  is  bad  home  influence  as  well  as  good. 
35 


The  Sevenfold  I  AM 

But  we  are  speaking  of  the  ideal ;  and  the 
home  Christ  oiFers  is  such.  We  may  feel 
that  the  figure  of  the  Door  has  retreated,  so 
to  speak,  into  the  background.  But  this  is 
only  because  it  has  opened  the  way  to  so 
much  more.  Implicitly  it  contains  a  great 
deal  beyond  itself.  Admit  a  man  within 
your  door,  and  you  have  gone  far  towards 
admitting  him  to  your  fireside  and  your 
table.  The  beginning  and  the  fruition  of 
membership  in  Christ  are  symbolically  re- 
presented in  some  churches  by  the  font  at 
the  western  entrance  and  the  Holy  Table  at 
the  eastern  end.  But  both  are  under  the 
same  roof,  and  represent  only  different  stages 
in  the  Christian  life.  Admission  within  the 
door  leads  on  to  nurture  and  fellowship. 
The  life  in  Christ  is  a  life  rich  in  spiritual 
blessing  and  progress.  We  come  to  find 
riches  in  it  of  which  we  never  dreamed  when 
we  first  embraced  it.  It  is  a  growth,  whose 
end  is  potentially  contained  in  its  beginning, 
as  the  flower  and  fruit  are  in  the  seed.  "  You 
may  say,"  writes  Marcus  Dods,  "you  are 
saved   when   you    fairly   put   yourself  into 

36 


Christ  and  Our   Homelessness 

Christ's  hand,  but  you  must  also  remember 
that  then  your  salvation  is  only  beginning, 
and  that  you  cannot,  in  the  fullest  sense,  say 
you  are  saved  until  Christ  has  wrought  in 
you  a  perfect  conformity  to  Himself."  Christ 
does  not  develop  here  the  idea  of  nurture. 
It  is  given  fuller  expression  under  the  figure 
of  the  Bread  of  Life.  Here  it  is  only  men- 
tioned and  no  more.  We  get,  as  it  were, 
only  a  glimpse  through  the  Door  into  the 
life  within,  with  all  its  privileges  and  benefits. 
But  the  glimpse  should  be  enough  to  inspire 
us  with  confidence,  and  to  encourage  us  to 
enter  if  we  have  not  done  so  before. 

Christ  the  Door,  then,  is  Christ  as  the 
entrance  to  the  Christian  life.  He  is  the 
Alpha  as  He  is  the  Omega  ;  He  meets  us  at 
the  very  beginning.  What  He  offers  us  is 
a  home :  a  centre  from  which  to  live,  a 
standpoint  from  which  to  view  everything 
else.  His  only  condition  is  that  we  do  enter 
the  Door  ;  that  we  take  our  stand  inside  and 
not  outside.  For  if  we  do,  though  we  may 
go  in  and  out,  and  find  pasture  without  as 
37 


The  Sevenfold  I  AM 

well  as  within,  we  are  saved,  and  shall  be 
saved  from  the  evil  both  in  ourselves  and  in 
the  world. 

Let  us  not  be  afraid  to  make  a  beginning. 
True,  the  beginning  is  not  all ;  many  have 
begun  to  build  and  have  not  been  able  to 
finish.  The  worst  enemies  of  Christianity 
have  been  those  who  first  espoused  and  then 
deserted  its  cause  ;  Judas,  who  betrayed  his 
Lord  ;  Demas,  who  loved  this  present  world. 
We  are  warned  not  to  begin  without  counting 
the  cost.  But  with  many  of  us  the  danger 
rather  lies  in  the  direction  of  never  beginning 
at  all ;  and  while  the  man  who  begins  may 
not  finish,  the  man  who  never  begins  cannot. 
If  the  road  to  hell  be  paved  with  good  in- 
tentions, the  road  to  heaven  is  paved  with 
them  too.  There  is  truth  in  the  proverb, 
"Well  begun,  half  done."  Enter,  then,  by 
the  Door.  Enter,  and  you  will  never  regret 
the  step  you  took.  Enter,  and  you  will  be 
led  on  from  grace  to  grace  and  from  strength 
to  strength.  There  is  no  good  to  be  got 
from  hesitating  on  the  threshold  ;  you  must 
be  on  one  side  or  other.     Choose  you  this 

38 


Christ  and  Our   Homelessness 

day  whom  you  will  serve.  Now  Is  the 
accepted  time.  The  Door  that  stands  open 
to-day  may,  for  one  or  other  of  many  causes 
which  we  cannot  foresee,  be  shut  to  us  to- 
morrow. 

<* Would  a  man  'scape  the  rod?** 
(Rabbi  ben  Karshook  saith) 

"See  that  he  turn  to  God 
The  day  before  his  death.'* 

**Ay,  could  a  man  enquire 

When  it  shall  come !  "  I  say. 

(The  Rabbi's  eye  shoots  fire) 
"Then  let  him  turn  to-day!*' 


39 


in 

CHRIST  AND  OUR  WAYWARDNESS 


Ill 

CHRIST  AND  OUR  WAYWARDNESS 

"  I  AM  the  Way,  the  Truth,  and  the  Life  ;  no  man 
cometh  unto  the  Father,  but  by  Me." — St.  John  xiv.  6. 

We  must  beware,  of  course,  of  spoiling 
our  Lord's  metaphors  about  Himself  by 
trying  to  make  them  parts  of  one  consistent 
figure.  They  were  spoken  at  different 
times,  as  circumstances  suggested ;  they 
were  not,  for  the  most  part,  used  with  any 
distinct  reference  to  one  another.  When 
our  Lord  called  Himself  the  Door,  for 
example.  He  was  not  thinking  of  a  door 
opening  on  to  a  way,  but  in  to  an  enclosure  ; 
and  when  He  called  Himself  the  Way,  the 
image  of  the  Door  was  not  before  His  mind. 
Yet  it  is  no  idle  fancy  to  associate  the  two 
images  with  one  another.  Our  Lord  Him- 
self did  so  when  He  said,  "  Wide  is  the 
43 


The  Sevenfold  I  AM 

gate,  and  broad  is  the  way,  that  leadeth  to 
destruction."  .  .  .  "Strait  is  the  gate,  and 
narrow  is  the  way,  which  leadeth  unto  life." 
The  association  of  the  two  has  been  further 
familiarised  to  us  in  the  Pilgrim's  ProgresSj 
where  no  sooner  has  the  traveller  entered 
the  Gate  than  he  is  pointed  to  the  one  and 
only  Way.  There  is  no  "  way "  before 
coming  to  the  gate  ;  he  may  come  to  it  by 
any  route  ;  as  a  matter  of  fact  he  chooses  a 
very  roundabout  one.  But  once  he  is  there, 
the  way  is  clear  and  definite.  Many  persons 
and  things  may  lead  us  to  Christ,  but  only 
Christ  can  lead  us,  in  a  full  sense,  to  God. 
Thus  the  Door  and  the  Way  may  be 
regarded  as  complementary  figures,  each 
having  its  part  in  any  right  conception  of 
what  Christ  does  for  us.  Entering  by  a 
Door  is  a  single  decisive  act ;  traversing 
a  Way  is  a  long  continuous  process.  In 
religion,  as  in  everything,  it  is  important 
that  there  should  be  a  fixed  and  definite 
starting-point ;  a  basis  from  which  to  work. 
But  it  cannot  be  too  often  insisted  upon  that 
this  is  only  the  beginning.  He  that  putteth 
44 


Christ  and  Our  Waywardness 

on  his  harness  must  not  boast  as  he  that 
taketh  it  ofF.  There  must  be  continual 
progress  in  the  Christian  life.  And  in  view 
of  this  two-fold  need — a  definite  start  and 
a  regular  march — it  is  surely  not  without 
significance  that  He  who  said,  "  I  am  the 
Door,"  said  also,  "  I  am  the  Way  "  ;  that  He 
Who  said,  "  By  Me  if  any  man  enter  in,  he 
shall  be  saved,"  said  also,  "No  man  cometh 
unto  the  Father,  but  by  Me."  By  the  one 
Door  we  enter  ;  by  the  one  Way  we  travel. 
In  the  one  case  Christ  offers  Himself  to  us 
in  our  homelessness — offers  us  a  Door,  a 
home,  with  its  refuge,  its  freedom,  its 
nurture.  In  the  other  He  corrects  our 
waywardness,  offers  us  a  Way  of  truth  and  a 
Way  of  life,  to  keep  us  alike  from  error  and 
from  sin,  and  to  lead  us  to  the  Father  Who 
is  the  source  of  all  truth  and  life. 

The  three  words  here  applied  by  our 
Saviour  to  Himself — Way,  Truth,  and  Life — 
have  always  been  felt  to  possess  a  special 
attractiveness — an  attractiveness  perhaps  all 
the  greater  because  the  relation  of  the  three 
ideas  to  one  another  is  not  immediately 
45 


/ 


The  Sevenfold  I  AM 

apparent.  Even  the  coincidence  that  in 
Latin,  the  language  of  medieval  theology, 
they  form  an  alliteration — Via^  Veritas^ 
Vita — has  proved  attractive,  and  has  led  to 
such  elaborations  as  Augustine's  Vera  via 
vitcBy  and  Bernard's  Via  in  exemplo^  Veritas 
in  promissoy  vita  in  prc^mio.  As  an  example 
of  the  way  in  which  men  loved  to  enlarge  on 
this  theme,  we  may  take  the  following  from 
Thomas  ^  Kempis  : — 

"  Follow  Me  ;  I  am  the  Way,  the  Truth, 
and  the  Life. 

**  Without  the  Way,  there  is  no  going  ; 
without  the  Truth,  there  is  no  knowing ; 
without  the  Life,  there  is  no  living. 

"  I  am  the  Way  which  thou  must  follow, 
the  Truth  which  thou  must  believe,  the 
Life  which  thou  must  hope  fon 

"  I  am  the  Way  inviolable,  the  Truth 
infallible,  and  the  Life  interminable. 

"  I  am  the  Way  most  straight,  the  Truth 
most  high,  the  true  Life,  the  blessed  Life, 
the  uncreated  Life. 

"  If  thou  abide  in  My  Way,  thou  shalt 
know  the  Truth,  and  the  Truth  shall  make 


Christ  and  Our  Waywardness 

thee  free,  and  thou  shalt  lay  hold  on  eternal 
Life. 

"  If  thou  wilt  enter  into  Life,  keep  the 
commandments.  If  thou  wilt  know  the 
Truth,  believe  Me." 

Luther  and  Calvin  regard  Way,  Truth, 
and  Life  as  the  beginning,  middle,  and  end 
of  the  Christian  course.  Attempts  have 
also  been  made  to  apply  the  words  to  the 
three  offices  of  Christ — Priest  (Way), 
Prophet  (Truth),  and  King  (Life)  ;  or  to 
suggest  that  they  represent  the  three  ele- 
ments of  His  work  for  us — His  sacrifice 
being  the  Way,  His  teaching,  the  Truth, 
His  example,  the  Life.  Many  hymns,  too, 
have  been  founded  on  the  words. 

Thou  art  the  Way,  the  Truth,  the  Life  ; 

Grant  us  that  Way  to  know. 
That  Truth  to  keep,  that  Life  to  win, 

Whose  joys  eternal  flow. 

The  Occasion. 

The  words  were  first  spoken  on  the  night 
on    which   our    Lord    was   betrayed.     The 
apostles,  gathered  round  the  first  Communion 
47 


The  Sevenfold  I  AM 

Table,  had  come  to  realise  that  their  Master 
was  about  to  leave  them.  '^  Whither  I  go," 
He  said,  "ye  cannot  come."  St.  Peter 
breaks  in  with  questions  such  as  those  which 
any  child  would  ask  at  such  an  announcement. 
"  Lord,  whither  goest  Thou  ?  "  ''  Why 
cannot  I  follow  Thee  now  ?  "  Jesus  speaks 
words  of  comfort,  and  bids  them  trust  His 
Father  and  Himself.  He  tells  them  of  the 
heavenly  mansions,  of  His  going  to  prepare 
them  a  place,  of  His  coming  again  to  receive 
them  unto  Himself.  Then  He  adds, 
**  Whither  I  go  ye  know,  and  the  way  ye 
know,"  or  perhaps  more  tersely,  "  Whither  I 
go,  ye  know  the  way."  St.  Thomas,  always 
the  rationalist  of  the  band,  breaks  in  with  : 
"  Lord,  we  know  not  whither  Thou  goest ; 
and  how  can  we  know  the  way  ? "  Jesus,  in 
His  reply,  does  not  so  much  answer  the 
particular  question,  as  raise  the  whole 
matter  from  the  particular  to  the  universal. 
"I  am  the  Way,  the  Truth,  and  the 
Life ;  no  man  cometh  unto  the  Father, 
but  by  Me."  He  goes  on  to  show  how 
the   knowing  of  Him  implies  the  knowing 

48 


Christ  and  Our  Waywardness 

of  His  Father  ;  and  In  reply  to  St.  Philip's 
demand,  "Show  us  the  Father/'  re-affirms 
the  same  truth  in  different  language. 
"He  that  hath  seen  Me  hath  seen  the 
Father." 

From  this  it  would  seem  that  PFay^  Truthy 
and  Life  are  not  correlative  terms,  each 
corresponding  to  some  one  phase  of  our 
Lord's  life  and  work.  Rather  is  the  first 
term  inclusive  of  the  others,  and  illustrated 
by  them.  IVay  constitutes  the  parable, 
Truth  and  Life  the  Interpretation.  Jesus 
had  already  spoken  of  the  way,  and  St. 
Thomas  had  also  referred  to  the  way.  This 
word  Jesus  accordingly  takes  up  and  uses  in 
a  figurative  sense.  A  way  may  be  at  once  a 
way  of  truth  and  a  way  of  life.  JVay^  as 
applied  to  spiritual  things.  Is  a  figure  of 
speech,  while  Truth  and  Life  are  not. 
The  idea  would  have  been  a  complete 
one,  though  of  course  less  full  and  explicit, 
had  our  Lord  left  out  Truth  and  Life 
altogether,  and  simply  said,  "I  am  the 
Way ;  no  man  cometh  unto  the  Father, 
but  by  Me." 

D  49 


The  Sevenfold  I  AM 

Christ  the  Way. 

It  is  as  the  Way,  then — the  Way  to  the 
Father — that  Jesus  here  offers  Himself  to 
His  people.  And  this  surely  meets  a  human 
need.  There  could  be  no  more  pathetic 
study  than  that  of  the  many  strange  ways  in 
which  men  have  sought  to  reach  God.  Man- 
kind apart  from  Christ  are  troubled  by  two 
difficulties.  One  is  that  they  do  not  know 
the  way  to  God  ;  the  other  is  that  God's 
own  ways  are  past  finding  out.  Could 
they  but  understand  these  two  things  — 
God's  way  with  man,  man's  way  to  God — 
a  great  part  of  life's  problem  would  be 
solved.  To  Israel,  the  conception  of  a  way 
was  a  familiar  one.  True,  they  might  say 
of  God,  "Thy  way  is  in  the  sea,  and  Thy 
path  in  the  great  waters,  and  Thy  foot- 
steps are  not  known."  ^  Yet  man  had  not 
been  left  entirely  ignorant  even  of  God's 
ways.  "  All  the  paths  of  the  Lord  are  mercy 
and  truth  unto  such  as  keep  His  covenant 
and  His  testimonies."  And  with  regard 
to  the  way  in  which  man  ought  to  walk,  the 

50 


Christ   and  Our  Waywardness 

revelation  was  clearer  still.  The  wander- 
ings between  Egypt  and  Canaan  were  sym- 
bolic of  the  truth  that  God  was  always 
leading  His  people,  though  often  by  a  way 
that  they  knew  not.  But  here  our  Lord 
once  and  for  all  answers  both  the  questions 
we  have  indicated.  He  is  God's  Way  to 
man,  and  because  of  that.  He  is  man's  Way 
to  God.  On  Him,  as  on  the  ladder 
between  earth  and  heaven,  angels  of  God 
are  seen  both  ascending  and  descending.  In 
Him  God  seeks  and  finds  us  ;  in  Him,  too, 
we  seek  and  find  God.  The  latter  truth 
rests  upon  the  former.  The  true  way  to 
God  could  only  be  shown  by  One  Who 
Himself  came  from  God.  This  is  implicit 
in  His  substitution  of  *^  cometh "  for  St. 
Thomas's  "goest."  He  speaks  not  as  one 
who  starts  from  earth,  but  as  One  Whose 
home  is  in  heaven.  Yet  His  reference  here 
*s  mainly  to  His  work  of  bringing  men  to 
God.  He  answers  the  human  craving  for 
guidance  and  direction.  When  He  calls 
Himself  the  Way  to  the  Father,  He  utters 
a  very  rich  and  a  very  comprehensive  truth. 
51 


The  Sevenfold  I  AM 

He  does  not  refer  exclusively  to  His  teach- 
ing, or  His  example,  or  His  sacrifice  ;  He 
means  all  these  and  more  ;  He  means  Him- 
self. He  means  us  to  accept  Him  in  all 
His  fulness  if  we  would  reach  God.  His 
teaching  warns  us  against  evil  and  points  us 
to  good  ;  His  example  presents  us  with  the 
highest  and  holiest  life  ever  lived  ;  His 
sacrifice  consecrates  for  us  a  new  and  living 
way  into  the  Holiest  of  all.  But  over  and 
above  any  of  these  is  the  great  fact  that 
our  way  to  God  must  lie  through  Christ. 
Eliminate  Him  for  a  moment,  even  in 
thought,  and  the  whole  idea  of  approach  to 
God  breaks  down.  Try  to  leave  out  of 
account  all  that  Christ  has  been  and  done, 
and  taught  and  suffered,  and  you  will  find, 
like  Dante  in  his  dark  wood,  that  the  right 
way  is  lost,  and  that  you  are  exposed  to  the 
powers  of  evil.  We  need  not  wonder,  then, 
that  the  following  of  Christ,  as  we  see  from 
the  Book  of  Acts,  was  soon  known  as  "  the 
Way,"  or  that  one  of  the  earliest  Christian 
writings  after  the  New  Testament  was  called 
the  Duce  Vice^  as  showing  the  way  of  life 
52 


Christ  and  Our  Waywardness 

and  the  way  of  death.  No  doubt  many 
noble  souls  of  heathendom  have  sought  and 
felt  after  God,  and  have  been  not  far  from 
His  kingdom.  But  are  we  not  justified  in 
saying  that  where  they  did  come  near  Him 
they  were  following,  albeit  unconsciously, 
the  way  of  Christ — that  He  was  in  some 
sort  shaping  and  directing  their  way  ?  Can 
we  except  even  their  experience  from  the 
exclusive  claim  He  makes  here — "  No  man 
Cometh  unto  the  Father,  but  by  Me  "  ? 

Our  Lord  explains  and  amplifies  this 
expression,  "  I  am  the  Way,"  by  stating  the 
two  chief  forms  in  which  it  is  manifested, 
"  I  am  the  Truth,"  and  « I  am  the  Life." 
These  two  are  correlative  to  one  another,  and 
are  each  related  to  "I  am  the  Way."  To 
keep  on  the  right  way  Is  to  do  two  things ; 
to  observe  correctness  of  judgment  and 
rectitude  of  conduct.  To  depart  from  the 
right  way  Is  to  commit  Intellectual  error,  or 
moral  failure,  or  both.  Thus  the  Way 
represents  both  Truth  and  Life ;  on  our 
attitude  towards  It  depend  alike  our  creed 
and  our  conduct,  our  belief  and  our  practice, 
S3 


The  Sevenfold  I  AM 

our  faith  and  our  works.  This  becomes 
clearer  when  we  remember  that  the  Way  is 
a  Way  by  which  we  "come  to  the  Father." 
For  God  is  at  once  absolute  Truth  and 
absolute  Life  ;  and  we  are  only  fully  His 
when  freed  from  both  error  and  sin.  In  a 
sense,  no  doubt,  we  are  freed  from  both 
when  we  enter  the  Door.  We  then  experi- 
ence for  the  first  time  the  love  that  reveals 
and  redeems.  Yet  we  became  progressively 
freed  from  both  as  we  follow  the  Way  which 
is  at  once  Truth  and  Life. 

I.  A  Way  of  Truth. 

To  Pilate  He  said,  "To  this  end  was  I 
born,  and  for  this  cause  came  I  into  the 
world,  that  I  should  bear  witness  unto  the 
truth.  Every  one  that  is  of  the  truth 
heareth  My  voice."  But  to  His  disciples  He 
could  say  more  :  not  "  I  bear  witness  to  the 
truth,"  or  "  I  teach  you  the  truth,"  but  "  I 
am  the  Truth."  And  while  the  word  has 
a  universal  bearing.  He  means  especially  the 
truth  about  God,  and  about  man  in  his 
54 


Christ  and  Our  Waywardness 

relation  to  God.  The  words  are  governed  by 
the  final  clause,  "  No  man  cometh  unto  the 
Father,  but  by  Me."  No  man  can  know 
God  in  any  full  and  intimate  sense  except 
through  Christ.  He  is  the  Word  of  God — 
the  articulate  expression  of  the  Godhead. 
He  is,  as  He  has  already  told  us,  the  Light 
of  the  world,  dispelling  the  darkness  and 
making  all  things  clear.  No  doubt  many 
precious  truths  with  regard  to  God  had  been 
revealed  before  Christ  appeared.  To  these 
He  did  full  justice ;  He  came  not  to  destroy 
but  to  fulfil.  Yet  the  truth,  before  His  day, 
had  been  fragmentary,  heterogeneous,  obscure. 
It  was  "  line  upon  line,  precept  upon  precept, 
here  a  little  and  there  a  little."  It  resembled 
extracts  from  a  great  author,  set  in  a  child's 
lesson-book,  for  the  benefit  of  those  unfit  to 
read  his  works  in  their  entirety.  It  was 
like  the  separate  stones  of  a  building,  not 
yet  fitly  framed  together.  It  was  like  the 
broken  lights  of  the  solar  spectrum  as  shown 
through  a  prism,  not  yet  fused  into  one  clear 
radiance.  It  was  diverse  in  its  methods,  in 
its  agents  of  communication,  in  the  principles 
55 


The  Sevenfold  I  AM 

which  it  imparted.  But  at  last  God  spoke 
to  man  not  "In  sundry  portions  and  in 
divers  manners  through  the  prophets,"  but 
"  by  His  Son,  the  brightness  of  His  glory 
and  the  express  Image  of  His  Person." 
Christ  speaks  directly  from  God.  His 
words  ring  true.  He  is  sure  of  Himself. 
What  He  says  has  authority.  "He  that 
hath  seen  Me  hath  seen  the  Father."  "All 
things  that  I  have  heard  of  My  Father  I  have 
made  known  unto  you."  His  Gospel  is  a 
manifestation  of  God's  nature.  His  parables 
are  revelations  of  God's  truth.  His  mighty 
works,  in  one  of  their  aspects,  are  "  signs  " 
or  illustrations  of  truth.  Even  His  great 
sacrifice,  while  it  is  much  more,  is  the  pro- 
foundest  explanation  of  God  ever  given,  the 
evidence  of  God's  love  for  the  world.  The 
Spirit  He  promises  to  His  disciples  is  a 
Spirit  of  truth,  a  Spirit  Who  shall  teach,  and 
testify,  and  bring  to  remembrance,  and  guide 
them  into  all  truth.  Nor  has  the  Church 
ever  wholly  lost  sight  of  the  fact  that  the 
communication  of  truth  is  one  of  the  great 
tasks  with  which  she   is  entrusted.     When 

56 


Christ   and  Our  Waywardness 

St.  Paul  said  at  Athens,  "  Him  Whom  ye 
ignorantly  worship  declare  I  unto  you,"  he 
was  following  out  the  words  of  Christ,  ^*  I  am 
the  Truth."  The  ordinance  of  preaching, 
the  formation  of  the  creeds,  the  whole  fabric 
of  Christian  theology.  Is  but  the  development 
of  the  same  Idea.  No  doubt  there  is  a  great 
deal  of  truth  which  Christ  does  not  directly 
touch.  The  Church  has  often  erred  in 
ignoring  such  truth,  and  her  too  one-sided 
and  partial  view  of  what  truth  means  has  had 
its  reaction  in  the  equally  one-sided  tendency 
to  regard  the  truth  of  nature  as  the  only 
truth  attainable.  A  narrow  orthodoxy  in 
religion  has  been  answered  by  as  narrow  an 
orthodoxy  of  science.  But  while  we  thank- 
fully accept  all  that  science  tells  us  as  to 
many  of  God's  wondrous  ways,  it  Is  not 
by  Its  means  that  we  can  ever  see  Himself. 
It  is  in  Christ  that  God  stands  revealed. 
"No  man  hath  seen  God  at  any  time; 
the  only  begotten  Son,  which  is  in  the 
bosom  of  the  Father,  He  hath  declared 
Him." 


57 


The  Sevenfold  I  AM 

2.    A  Way  of  Life. 

If  Christ  Is  the  Way  because  He  is  the 
Truth,  He  is  the  Way  for  a  yet  more  signi- 
ficant reason — because  He  is  the  Life.  A 
way  is  a  safeguard  not  only  against  intel- 
lectual, but  against  moral  failure  ;  and  the 
search  after  righteousness  is  an  even  more 
important  thing  than  the  search  after  wisdom. 
Our  main  business  here  is  not  to  know,  but 
to  five  ;  and  truth  is  valueless  until  trans- 
lated into  action.  St.  Peter,  as  long  as  he 
remained  on  the  housetop,  could  only 
"doubt  in  himself  what  this  vision  which 
he  had  seen  should  mean."  He  found  the 
answer  to  his  doubts  when  he  accompanied 
the  men  who  were  sent  for  him,  and  gave  Cor- 
nelius the  blessing  he  sought.  St.  Paul's 
first  cry  after  his  conversion,  "Who  art 
Thou,  Lord  ? "  is  quickly  followed  by  a 
second,  "What  wilt  Thou  have  me  to 
do  ? "  Truth  and  life  have  a  mutual 
influence  ;  if  truth  can  inspire,  action  can 
illuminate.  And  thus,  to  come  back  to  the 
words  of  our    Saviour,  it   is  clear   that   to 

58 


Christ   and  Our  Waywardness 

"come  to  the  Father"  must  imply  more 
than  the  mere  knowledge  of  God.  Many  of 
the  Church's  greatest  mistakes,  much  of  her 
intolerance  and  persecution,  have  come  from 
a  one-sided  conception  of  religion  as  truth 
to  the  neglect  of  life.  Our  Lord  never 
regarded  mere  education  as  a  panacea  for  all 
ills.  He  never  said,  like  Socrates,  that 
knowledge  was  virtue.  Men,  to  Him, 
were  not  only  blind,  but  sick  ;  not  only  in 
error,  but  in  sin  ;  and  He  must,  therefore, 
give  them  health  as  well  as  light,  life  as 
well  as  truth.  Hence,  to  know  Christ  as 
the  Truth  is  not  enough  ;  we  must  find 
Him  as  the  Life.  The  Way  is  a  way  to 
life  in  God.  ^'  I  am  come  that  they  might 
have  life,  and  that  they  might  have  it  more 
abundantly."  All  the  work  of  Christ  was 
directed  to  this  end.  His  teaching  had 
invariably  a  practical  object.  His  miracles, 
if  they  were  *'  signs,"  were  yet  more 
emphatically  "  works  "  directed  towards  the 
helping  and  serving  of  men.  His  com- 
mand, as  he  instituted  the  Holy  Supper, 
was  not  "  Look,"  but  '^  Eat "  ;  the  act  was 
59 


The  Sevenfold  I  AM 

to  signify  assimilation  of  life  as  well  as 
apprehension  of  truth.  His  great  sacri- 
fice, while  it  contained  the  sublimest  revela- 
tion of  God's  nature  ever  made  to  man,  had 
life,  not  truth,  as  its  ultimate  end ;  its  aim 
was  not  so  much  to  show  God  to  man,  as 
to  give  God  to  man,  and  to  bring  man  to 
God.  And  while,  as  we  have  seen.  He 
promised  the  Holy  Spirit  as  a  Spirit  of 
truth,  that  Spirit  is  even  more  strikingly 
displayed  as  a  Spirit  of  life  and  power.  The 
Pentecostal  grace  consisted  not  only  of  illu- 
mination, but  of  inspiration  ;  its  emblems 
were  the  wind  and  the  fire.  And  it  is  thus 
that  the  work  of  the  Spirit  is  still  manifest. 
As  the  Shorter  Catechism  well  puts  it,  He 
operates  not  only  by  "enlightening  our 
minds  in  the  knowledge  of  Christ,"  but  by 
"renewing  our  wills."  According  as  we 
keep  near  to  Christ  we  enter  into  larger  and 
fuller  life.  As  He  alone  can  lead  us  to 
the  full  knowledge  of  God — to  "know  as 
we  are  known "  of  Him  —  so  He  will 
also  lead  us  to  perfect  fellowship  with  God — 
to  the  fulness  of  what  he  calls  "  eternal  life." 
60 


Christ  and  Our  Waywardness 

In  these  two  respects — as  the  Truth  and 
the  Life — is  Christ,  for  us,  the  Way  to 
God — the  One  without  Whom  "no  man 
cometh  unto  the  Father."  As  Godet  tersely 
puts  it,  "The  truth  is  God  revealed  in 
His  essential  nature — that  is  to  say,  in 
His  holiness  and  in  His  love ;  the  life 
is  God  communicated  to  the  soul,  and 
imparting  to  it  holy  strength  and  perfect 
blessedness." 

If  the  lesson  of  our  last  study,  then,  was 
"  Enter  by  the  one  Door,"  our  lesson  from 
this  one  is  "Journey  by  the  one  Way." 
Let  your  religion  be  a  progress  forward,  on- 
ward, upward  ;  an  increase  in  knowledge,  a 
growth  in  grace ;  a  constant  advance  in 
truth  and  life.  Perhaps  nothing  is  so  want- 
ing in  the  average  Christian  life  of  to-day 
as  the  signs  of  progress  and  growth.  Re- 
member that  while  life  is  a  journey  it  is  not 
meant  to  be  a  haphazard  wandering.  It  has 
Christ  as  its  Way,  God  as  its  goal.  •  It  leads 
through  the  world,  but  in  Christ  we  can 
learn  to  use  even  the  world  as  a  means  of 
6i 


The  Sevenfold  I  AM 

approach  to  God.  We  forget  what  is  be- 
hind, and  reach  forth  to  what  is  before. 
Every  trial,  every  conquest,  every  failure 
even,  becomes  a  step  on  the  way  of  truth 
and  life.  We  "press  toward  the  mark  for 
the  prize  of  the  high  calling  of  God  in  Christ 
Jesus." 


62 


IV 
CHRIST  AND  OUR  HELPLESSNESS 


IV 
CHRIST  AND  OUR  HELPLESSNESS 

"I  AM  the  Good  Shepherd;  the  Good  Shepherd 
giveth  His  life  for  the  sheep.  ...  I  AM  the  Good 
Shepherd,  and  know  My  sheep,  and  am  known  of 
Mine.'' — St.  John  x.  ii,  14. 

The  pastoral  life — the  relation  of  shepherd 
and  flock — has  always  had  about  it  a 
peculiar  charm.  It  has  touched  the 
imagination,  and  been  made  the  frequent 
subject  both  of  pictorial  and  of  poetic  art. 
The  classic  poets,  the  early  English  writers, 
and  even  the  homelier  bards  of  Scotland, 
have  given  the  shepherd  a  place  of  honour. 
In  his  calling  there  would  seem  to  lie  that 
sympathy  with  Nature  which  comes  of 
living  in  green  pastures  and  far  from  the 
busy  haunts  of  men.  His  task,  though  an 
engrossing,  is  not  an  enslaving  one.  It  is 
one  of  responsibility  rather  than  of  drudgery  ; 
E  65 


The  Sevenfold  I  AM 

one  where  the  eye  can  look  far  ahead  and 
far  afield.  It  is  a  work  that  has  often 
afforded  opportunity  for  meditation  and 
reflection,  whether  under  the  starry  heavens 
by  night,  or  amid  the  ever-changing  scenery 
of  mountain  and  glen  by  day.  Hence 
men  have  always  felt  that  there  is  some- 
thing ideal  in  the  life  of  the  shepherd  ; 
something  typical  of  life  at  its  highest. 

In  Eastern  lands  the  shepherd's  work  is 
invested  with  yet  greater  honour  and 
significance  by  reason  of  the  danger,  the 
anxiety,  the  self-sacrifice,  which  it  entails. 
There  is  a  certain  sacredness  in  having  the 
care  of  a  living  creature  ;  and  in  the  case 
of  the  Eastern  shepherd  everything  tended 
to  increase  that  sacredness.  He  knew  his 
sheep  by  name,  and  they  knew  him.  He 
did  not  drive  them  from  behind,  but  led 
them  from  before.  For  them  he  had  to 
encounter  many  perils,  and  might  even 
have  to  give  his  life. 

The  Shepherd  in  Scripture. 

As  we  read  the  Old  Testament  we  cannot 
66 


Christ  and  Our  Helplessness 

but  be  struck  by  the  number  of  shepherds 
we  meet  in  its  pages.  The  righteous  Abel 
was  a  keeper  of  sheep.  The  faithful 
Abraham  was  very  rich  in  cattle,  and  flocks, 
and  herds.  The  patient  Jacob  kept  the 
flock  of  his  kinsman  Laban,  and  met  at  the 
well's  mouth  the  shepherdess  for  whom  he 
was  to  wait  twice  seven  long  years.  Moses 
was  leading  sheep  through  the  desert  when 
the  word  of  God  bade  him  conduct  a 
mightier  flock  through  a  vaster  wilderness. 
Amos,  the  stern  preacher  of  righteousness,  was 
a  herdman  of  Tekoah.  At  the  head  of  the 
whole  band  stands  the  great  shepherd-king 
David.  Long  ere  he  fought  human  enemies 
he  had  slain  the  lion  and  bear  that 
threatened  the  life  of  his  sheep.  While  he 
yet  lived  among  the  flocks  he  had  come  to 
know  that  the  Lord  was  his  Shepherd, 
leading  him  beside  the  still  waters,  showing 
him  the  straight  paths,  comforting  him  with 
rod  and  staflF  even  in  the  valley  of  the 
shadow.  They  were  shepherds,  too,  who 
watched  their  flocks  on  that  night  when 
the  glory  of  the  Lord   shone   round  about 

67 


The  Sevenfold  I  AM 

them,  and  the  herald-angel  delivered  his 
message — "  Unto  you  is  born  this  day  in 
the  city  of  David  a  Saviour,  which  is  Christ 
the  Lord." 

The  relation  of  shepherd  and  sheep — 
strength  and  tenderness  on  the  one  hand, 
weakness  and  trust  on  the  other — inevitably 
suggested  that  of  God  and  His  people. 
"Give  ear,  O  Shepherd  of  Israel,"  writes 
one  psalmist,  "Thou  that  leadest  Joseph 
like  a  flock."  "We,"  writes  another,  "are 
the  people  of  His  pasture,  and  the  sheep 
of  His  hand."  And  in  the  anticipations 
formed  of  the  Messiah,  it  was  not  seldom 
as  the  Shepherd  that  He  was  depicted.  "  I 
will  set  up  one  Shepherd  over  them," 
writes  Ezekiel,  "and  He  shall  feed  them, 
even  My  servant  David ;  He  shall  feed 
them,  and  He  shall  be  their  Shepherd." 
"He  shall  feed  His  flock,"  writes  the 
second  Isaiah,  "  like  a  shepherd  ;  He  shall 
gather  the  lambs  with  His  arm,  and  carry 
them  in  His  bosom,  and  shall  gently  lead 
those  that  are  with  young."  Our  Lord, 
when  He  came,  not  only  accepted  the  same 
68 


Christ  and  Our  Helplessness 

office,  but  passed  it  on  to  the  apostles  and 
ministers  of  His  appointing.  To  St.  Peter 
He  says,  "Feed  My  lambs,"  "Tend  My 
sheep  "  ;  and  that  apostle  in  turn  says  to  his 
own  disciples,  "Feed  the  flock  of  God 
which  is  among  you,  taking  the  oversight 
thereof ;  .  .  .  and  when  the  Chief  Shepherd 
shall  appear,  ye  shall  receive  a  crown  of 
glory  that  fadeth  not  away."  The  tradition 
has  been  handed  on ;  even  the  bishop's 
staff  was  fashioned  after  the  likeness  of  a 
shepherd's  crook  ;  and  in  many  countries 
the  minister  of  Christ  is  still  called  the 
pastor  or  shepherd,  bound  to  render  an 
account  to  his  Master  of  the  souls  placed 
in  his  charge. 

Christ  the  Shepherd. 

It  is  thus  in  the  midst  of  a  goodly  array 
that  our  Lord  here  stands  as  the  Good 
Shepherd,  fulfilling  the  old,  instituting  the 
new. 

Before  proceeding  to  the  details  of  the 
picture  given  here,  we  learn  something 
from  a  comparison   of  the  two  figures,  "  I 

69 


The  Sevenfold  I  AM 

am  the  Door,"  and  "I  am  the  Good 
Shepherd."  At  first  we  are  half  tempted 
to  wish  that  our  Lord  had  kept  to  one  or 
other  figure,  in  order  to  make  the  picture 
a  clear  and  complete  one.  But  we  gain 
something  from  the  very  fact  that  He  did 
not.  We  might  almost  say  that  in  the 
parable  the  two  conceptions  of  Christ  as 
the  Door  and  as  the  Shepherd  struggle  for 
the  mastery,  and  that  the  latter  prevails  in 
the  end.  When  Jesus  speaks  of  a  door. 
He  is  thinking  of  the  door  of  a  fold  ;  but 
when  He  speaks  of  a  shepherd.  He  is 
thinking  of  the  shepherd  of  a  flock.  The 
idea  of  the  fold  has  retired  into  the  back- 
ground ;  for  the  words  at  the  end  of  verse 
1 6  should  be,  not  "one  fold,  one  shepherd," 
but  "  one  flock,  one  shepherd."  Moreover, 
when  He  speaks  of  Himself  as  the  Door, 
He  speaks  of  our  entering  in  ;  but  when 
He  speaks  of  Himself  as  the  Shepherd,  He 
says,  "  He  leadeth  them  out.^^  On  the  one 
side,  then,  we  have  Door^  fold^  in ;  on  the 
other  side,  Shepherdy  jflocky  out.  And  the 
second  conception  is  an  advance  upon  the 
70 


Christ  and  Our  Helplessness 

first,  both  with    reference  to  Christ  and  to 

His  Church.     In  the  first,  all  is  stationary, 

fenced  round,  isolated ;    in    the    second,  all 

'is  moving,  free,  progressive.     According  to^ 

the  first  idea  the  Church  is  a  fold,  of  which 

Christ  is  the  Door,  and  into  which  the  flocks 

must  be  gathered  in.     But  according  to  the 

second,    the    Church    is   a    flock,    of  which 

Christ    is   the    Shepherd,    leading   out    His 

flock,  some  from  one  fold  and  some  from 

another.     And  it  is   doing   no   injustice   to 

the  first  figure  to  say  that  the  second  goes 

farther  and   deeper.     One    is   reminded   of 

the  diff^erent  ways  in  which  two  great  English 

poets  have  spoken  of  death.     Spenser  uses 

the  more  obvious  figure,  that  of  entering  a 

harbour. 

Sleep  after  toil,  port  after  stormy  seas, 
Ease  after  war,  death  after  life,  does  greatly  please. 

But  Tennyson  has  the  courage  to  invert  the 
figure,  and  to  speak  of  death  as  of  leaving  a 
harbour. 

May  there  be  no  moaning  of  the  bar 
When  I  put  out  to  sea. 

And    there    is    a    similar    distinction    here. 
71 


The  Sevenfold  I  AM 

There  Is  comfort,  no  doubt,  in  the  thought 
that  Christ  means  for  us  entrance  Into  a  fold 
where  we  shall  be  safe  from  peril.  But 
there  Is  more  that  appeals  to  our  chivalry  In 
the  thought  that  Christ  Is  leading  us  out, 
and  that  we  must  follow  Him.  Our  attach- 
ment Is  not  to  a  place  but  to  a  Person. 
Better  that  we  should  be  members  of  a  flock 
than  dwellers  In  a  fold.  We  may  say  of 
metaphors  what  William  Robertson  of  Irvine 
truly  said  of  the  arts — that  while  some,  like 
architecture,  painting,  sculpture,  tend  to 
localise  religion,  there  are  others,  like  poetry 
and  music,  on  whose  wheels  the  chariot  of 
the  everlasting  Gospel  has  gone  abroad.  It 
IS  grander  to  think  of  Christ's  people  as 
following  Him  out  of  many  folds  than  as 
enclosed  by  Him  within  one.  "  UbI  Chrlstus, 
ibi  ecclesla."  We  can  say,  as  Ittal  the  GIttlte 
said  to  King  David,  "  Surely  In  what  place 
my  lord  the  king  shall  be,  whether  In  death 
or  life,  even  there  also  will  thy  servant  be.'' 
And  It  widens  our  whole  conception  of  the 
Church  of  Christ,  and  shows  us  how  different 
it  may  be  from  all  our  preconceived  Ideas,  to 
72 


Christ  and  Our  Helplessness 

read  His  words  in  this  sense,  and  hear  Him 
say,  "  Other  sheep  I  have,  which  are  not  of 
this  fold  ;  them  also  I  must  bring,  and  they 
shall  hear  My  voice  ;  and  they  shall  become 
one  flock,  one  Shepherd." 

Turning  to  the  details  of  our  Lord's 
picture,  we  find  it  to  be  one  of  sharp  con- 
trasts. Over  against  the  picture  of  the  Good 
{i.e.  the  true,  the  real)  Shepherd,  He  places 
two  types  of  false  shepherds.  It  will  make 
for  clearness  if  we  examine  these  first. 

I.  The  False  Shepherds. 

We  may  omit  the  "  stranger  "  of  verse  5, 
who  may  either  be  a  person  of  no  account, 
or  may  represent  either  of  the  two  following 
classes  ;  and  pass  at  once  to — 

The  thief. — It  must  be  noted  that  into  one 
fold  might  be  gathered  the  sheep  of  different 
flocks  by  night,  guarded  by  a  watchman  or 
porter.  To  this  fold  came  the  various 
shepherds  in  the  morning,  to  lead  their 
several  flocks  out  to  pasture.  Each  has  a 
recognised  signal  or  knock,  which  when  the 
porter  hears  he  opens  the  door.  Any  one 
73 


The  Sevenfold  I  AM 

who  IS  not  a  true  shepherd  need  not  attempt 
to  gain  entrance  in  this  legitimate  way.  The 
porter  will  not  admit  him,  nor  will  the  sheep 
follow  him,  not  knowing  his  voice.  To 
enter  at  all,  he  must  enter  "  not  by  the  door," 
but  "  climb  up  some  other  way,"  and  carry 
off  the  sheep  by  force  or  by  stealth.  Milton's 
elaboration  of  the  parable  was  probably 
justified  by  the  conduct  of  many  so-called 
shepherds  of  his  day — men  who 

Creep  and  intrude,  and  climb  into  the  fold ; 

Of  other  care  they  little  reckoning  make 

Than  how  to  scramble  at  the  shearers'  feast, 

And  shove  away  the  worthy  bidden  guest. 

Blind  mouths  !  that  scarce  themselves  know  how  to  hold 

A  sheep-hook,  or  have  learned  aught  else  the  least 

That  to  the  faithful  herdsman's  art  belongs ! 

What  recks  it  them  ?  what  need  they  ?  they  are  sped ; 

And  when  they  list,  their  lean  and  flashy  songs 

Grate  on  their  scrannel  pipes  of  wretched  straw ; 

The  hungry  sheep  look  up  and  are  not  fed, 

But  swol'n  with  wind,  and  the  rank  mist  they  draw, 

Rot  inwardly,  and  foul  contagion  spread ; 

Besides  what  the  grim  wolf  with  privy  paw 

Daily  devours  apace,  and  nothing  said. 

The  thiefs  purpose  is  as  evil  as  his  method 
of  entrance    is   unlawful.     While   the   true 
74 


Christ  and  Our  Helplessness 

Shepherd  comes  for  a  beneficent  purpose, 
the  object  of  the  thief  is  "to  steal,  and  to 
kill,  and  to  destroy." 

The  hireling, — There  is  another  type  of 
so-called  shepherd  from  which  the  true 
shepherd  must  be  carefully  distinguished. 
This  is  the  hireling,  "  whose  own  the  sheep 
are  not."  No  doubt  a  man  may  be  a  hireling, 
in  the  sense  of  a  man  who  works  for  hire, 
and  yet  have  as  strong  a  sense  of  responsi- 
bility as  the  actual  owner.  Most  shepherds, 
indeed,  are  hirelings  in  this  sense.  But  the 
hireling  referred  to  here  is  a  hireling  and  no 
more.  He  thinks  not  of  the  charge,  but 
only  of  the  reward.     His   aim    is   not   the 

^  welfare  of  the  flock,  but  his  own  enrichment. 

i  This  is  an  old  temptation  to  shepherds  of 
souls.  "Woe  be,"  says  Ezekiel,  "to  the 
shepherds  of  Israel  that  do  feed  themselves  ! 
should  not  the  shepherds  feed  the  flocks  ? 
Ye  eat  the  fat,  and  ye  clothe  you  with  the 
wool,  ye  kill  them  that  are  fed  ;  but  ye  feed 
not  the  flock."  "Their  own  shepherds," 
says  Zechariah,  "pity  them  not."  And 
St.  Peter  warns  his  successors  in  the  pastoral 

75 


The  Sevenfold  I  AM 

office  to  "  feed  the  flock  of  God  •  .  .  not  by 
constraint,  but  willingly  ;  not  for  filthy  lucre, 
but  of  a  ready  mind."  Much,  too,  in 
Milton's  description  given  above  applies 
rather  to  the  hireling  than  to  the  thief. 
Trouble  or  danger  at  once  reveals  the  hireling 
in  his  true  colours.  The  man  who  "  careth 
not  for  the  sheep,"  who  puts  himself  and  not 
his  charge  first,  naturally  seeks  his  own  safety 
when  evil  days  come.  While  he  perhaps  would 
not  willingly  harm  the  flock,  he  does  not 
feel  bound  to  endanger  his  life  in  keeping 
others  from  doing  harm.  Many  of  us  who 
would  not  do  a  fellow-man  a  positive  injury 
will  not  lift  a  finger  to  protect  him  from  the 
injuries  inflicted  by  others.  Here,  as  in  the 
parable  of  the  Good  Samaritan  and  else- 
where, our  Lord  reminds  us  that  sins  of 
omission  may  be  as  dangerous  as  those  of 
commission.  In  any  position  of  trust  it  is 
not  enough  to  avoid  being  a  thief.  We 
must  also  abhor  the  spirit  of  the  hireling, 
and  regard  the  safety  of  those  under 
our  charge  as  of  greater  consequence  than 
our  own. 

76 


Christ  and  Our  Helplessness 

2.  The  Good  Shepherd. 

As  already  stated,  this  means  the  real,  the 
true  Shepherd,  as  against  the  false.  The 
proofs  of  His  reality  are  two  in  number. 
One  is,  "I  am  the  Good  Shepherd;  the 
Good  Shepherd  giveth  His  life  for  the  sheep." 
The  other  is,  "  I  am  the  Good  Shepherd,  and 
know  My  sheep,  and  am  known  of  Mine." 
We  may  call  these  proofs,  respectively,  self- 
sacrifice  and  mutual  confidence. 

Self-sacrifice. — "I  lay  down  My  life  for 
the  sheep."  This  brings  us  straight  to  the 
heart  of  all  Christ's  work  for  man.  Un- 
like the  thief,  whose  object  was  the  sheep's 
destruction  and  his  own  enrichment ;  unlike 
the  hireling,  who  cared  nothing  for  the  sheep, 
but  everything  for  the  safety  of  his  own 
skin  :  the  Good  Shepherd  lays  down  His 
life  that  the  sheep  may  win  theirs,  that  they 
may  be  delivered  from  danger  and  may  enter 
into  more  abundant  life.  "  All  we  like  sheep 
have  gone  astray  ;  we  have  turned  every  one 
to  his  own  way  ;  and  the  Lord  hath  laid  on 
Him  the  iniquity  of  us  all."  To  help  His 
77 


The  Sevenfold  I  AM 

lost  sheep,  the  Good  Shepherd  suffered  death, 
and  that  willingly. 

"  Lord,  whence  are  those  blood-drops  all  the  way, 
That  mark  out  the  mountain's  track  ? " 

"  They  were  shed  for  one  who  had  gone  astray. 
Ere  the  Shepherd  could  bring  him  back." 

"  Lord,  whence  are  Thy  hands  so  rent  and  torn  ? " 
"They  are  pierced  to-night  by  many  a  thorn." 

"No  man  taketh  it  from  Me,  but  I  lay  it 
down  of  Myself.  I  have  power  to  lay  it 
down,  and  I  have  power  to  take  it  again." 
The  "laying  down  "  and  "taking  again  "  of 
His  life  were  both  for  our  sakes  ;  that  He 
might  work  both  for  us  and  in  us  ;  that  He 
might  die  for  us  and  live  for  us.  Here  is 
the  central  mystery  and  glory  of  our  faith — 
the  sacrifice  of  very  God  for  man. 

Mutual  confidence. — "  I  know  My  sheep, 
and  am  known  of  Mine."  Not  only  does 
He  know  His  own  sheep  from  those  which 
are  not,  but  knows  them  individually  ;  knows 
them  by  name.  Nor  is  the  relation  com- 
plete until  they  too  know  Him.  The 
knowledge  spoken  of  is  by  voice  rather  than 
by  appearance.  It  is  told  that  a  Scottish 
traveller  in   Palestine,   wishing    to    test    the 

78 


Christ  and  Our  Helplessness 

accuracy  of  these  words,  changed  garments 
with  a  shepherd  whom  he  met  under  the 
walls  of  Samaria.  Thus  disguised,  he  at- 
tempted to  call  the  sheep.  But  they  would 
not  move.  The  true  shepherd  then  raised 
his  voice,  and,  in  spite  of  his  unaccustomed 
dress,  they  rallied  to  him  at  once.  We  are 
apt  sometimes  to  belittle  the  Intelligence  of 
sheep.  But  we  might  well  take  a  lesson 
from  them  in  this  respect.  Let  us  learn  to 
know  the  voice  of  Christ  ;  to  distinguish 
His  call  from  the  beguiling  voices  of  those 
who  wish  our  hurt ;  to  recognise  Him  even 
when  we  meet  Him  in  unexpected  places 
and  in  strange  guise — hungry,  sick,  in  prison. 
Then  will  His  words  be  literally  as  well  as 
ideally  true,  "  I  know  Mine  own,  and  Mine 
own  know  Me,  even  as  the  Father  knoweth 
Me,  and  I  know  the  Father.*' 


^> 


If  men  were  asked  which  of  all  our  Lord's 
/  arns  appealed  most  to  the  heart,  there  are 
few  who  would  not  give  the  favourite  place 
to  "I  am  the  Good  Shepherd."  We  may 
follow  a  Light,  we  may  enter  a  Door,  we 
79 


The  Sevenfold  I  AM 

may  traverse  a  Way.     But   these    symbols 
are    all    inanimate    things.      They    cannot, 
owing  to  their  inherent  limitations,  express 
with  any  fulness  what  Christ  is  to  us.     When 
we  think  of  the  infinite  Love  of  Him  Who 
gave  His  life  that  we  might  live,  and  of  the 
infinite  Wisdom  of  Him  Who    knows   us 
and  bids  us  know  Him,  it  is  as  the  Good 
Shepherd  that  He  appeals  to  us.     For  among 
the  many  other  specially  attractive  features 
of  the  symbolism  of  shepherd  and  flock,  not 
the  least  striking  is  this — that  it  brings   so 
clearly  into  view  both  our   individual  and 
our  social  relations  with  Him.     We  cannot 
read    the  allegory  without  seeing  in  it  the 
personal  contact  of  every  follower  of  Christ 
with  his  Master.     Sheep  are  prone  to  follow 
each  other ;   but  here  they  are  represented 
each  as  separately  hearing  the  voice  of  the 
shepherd,  and  each  as  the  separate  object  of 
the  shepherd's  care.     But  while  this  is  so, 
the  unifying,  consolidating  influence  of  the 
Shepherd   is  no  less   clearly  marked.     His 
ideal  is  "  one  flock,  one  Shepherd  "  ;  and  it 
is  according  as  we  own  and  follow  the  one 
80 


Christ  and  Our  Helplessness 

Shepherd  that  we  can  ever  become  one  flock. 
"  Sheep  having  no  shepherd  "  are  scattered 
abroad ;  the  shepherd's  presence  and  care 
are  necessary  to  the  very  existence  of  a  flock 
as  such.  "  We  being  many  are  one  body 
in  Christ,  and  every  one  members  one  of 
another." 


V 

CHRIST  AND  OUR  FAINTNESS 


CHRIST  AND   OUR   FAINTNESS 

« I  AM  the  Bread  of  Life ;  he  that  cometh  to  Me  shall 
never  hunger,  and  he  that  believeth  on  Me  shall  never 
thirst." — St.  John  vi.  35. 

On  all  the  emblems  under  which  our  Lord 
describes  Himself  as  responding  to  human 
need,  none  is  more  realistic  than  this  one  of 
Bread.  Bread  is  the  general  word  we  use 
when  we  mean  food.  We  call  bread  the 
staff  of  life  ;  we  speak  of  man's  working  for 
his  bread  ;  we  pray,  "  Give  us  this  day  our 
daily  bread."  And  food  represents  man's 
primary  need  as  an  animal  being.  Other 
things  he  may  make  shift  to  do  without ; 
food  he  must  have,  or  he  dies.  When  Christ, 
therefore,  calls  Himself  our  Bread,  He  uses 
^  the  strongest  figure  at  His  command.  He 
means  that  He  is  what  we  want — nay,  what 
we  must  have — if  wc  would  live.  He  is  as 
truly  and  essentially  the  proper  food  for  the 

85 


The  Sevenfold  I  AM 

human  soul  as  the  fruits  of  the  earth  are  for 
the  human  body.  Upon  our  acceptance  or 
rejection  of  Him  will  depend  our  spiritual 
life  or  death. 

The  Occasion. 

Bread  was  much  in  the  minds  of  those 
who  listened  to  our  Lord  as  He  said  these 
words.  A  great  multitude  had  followed 
Him,  having  seen  the  miracles  which  He  did. 
He  had  asked  St.  Philip,  *'  Whence  shall  we 
buy  bread,  that  these  may  eat  ?  "  With  the 
five  barley  loaves  and  the  two  small  fishes 
He  had  wondrously  fed  the  multitude,  and 
His  disciples  had  filled  twelve  baskets  with 
the  fragments  that  were  left.  It  was  on  the 
following  day,  after  the  night  on  which 
Jesus  had  come  to  the  relief  of  His  dis- 
tressed disciples  on  the  lake,  that  the  people, 
finding  Him,  to  their  surprise,  on  the  other 
side,  ask  Him  anxiously,  '^When  camest 
Thou  hither  ? "  In  reply  He  taxes  them 
with  a  motive  in  seeking  Him,  which  some 
of  them  at  least  must  have  felt  that  they 
deserved.  **  Verily,  verily,  I  say  unto  you, 
86 


Christ  and  Our  Faintness 

ye  seek  Me,  not  because  ye  saw  the  signs,  but 
because  ye  did  eat  of  the  loaves,  and  were 
filled."  He  adds  the  warning,  "  Labour  not 
for  the  meat  which  perisheth,  but  for  that 
meat  which  endureth  to  everlasting  life." 

These  words  constitute  an  introduction  to 
what  follows,  and  furnish  a  very  searching 
preliminary  test.  Before  going  on  to  in- 
quire as  to  how  Christ  is  the  Bread  of  Life 
there  is  the  prior  question  for  each  of  us — 
"Do  I  really  want  Bread  of  Life,  or  are  my 
aims  exclusively  material  ?  Even  in  my 
desire  to  be  connected  with  Christ  and  His 
Church,  am  I  thinking  mainly  of  temporal 
advantage — of  what  He  can  give  me  in  the 
way  of  position,  or  repute,  or  comfort  in 
this  life  ?  "  Missionaries  tell  us  of  the  ex- 
treme difficulty  of  knowing  the  real  motives 
of  their  would-be  converts,  and  of  the  num- 
bers who  expect  something  in  return  for 
their  Christian  profession,  such  as  land,  or 
influence,  or  the  redress  of  their  wrongs. 
We  all  need  to  put  it  very  clearly  before  us 
that  we  are  to  seek  jfrj/,  i.e.  chiefly,  the 
kingdom   of    God  and    His    righteousness. 

87 


The  Sevenfold  I  AM 

All  good  gifts,  it  is  true,  come  from  above. 
Our  Saviour  did  not  ignore  the  body  ;  He 
came  eating  and  drinking ;  He  provided 
men  with  food  and  drink.  But  He  makes 
it  clear  that  these  are  not  His  distinctive  and 
essential  gifts.  They  are  not  what  He  came  to 
oiFer,  nor  what  we  must  seek  Him  for.  The 
hunger  and  thirst  He  comes  to  satisfy  are  those 
of  the  human  spirit,  and  the  first  necessity  is 
that  we  really  have  that  hunger  and  thirst. 

Christ  the  Bread. 

What  is  this  heavenly  food,  then,  that 
Christ  bids  us  seek  ?  It  is  Himself.  "  I 
am  the  Bread  of  Life  ;  He  that  cometh  to 
Me  shall  never  hunger,  and  he  that  believeth 
on  Me  shall  never  thirst."  By  adding  the 
word  "  thirst "  He  makes  the  figure  a  more 
perfect  one,  embracing  the  two  great  neces- 
sities of  food  and  drink.  If  our  Lord  never 
actually  says  in  so  many  words,  "  I  am  the 
Water  of  Life,"  He  says  practically  the  same  to 
the  woman  of  Samaria  at  the  well,  and  also 
to  the  people  at  the  Feast  of  Tabernacles. 
The  parallel  between  food  and  drink  is  kept 
88 


Christ  and  Our  Faintness 

up  throughout  His  teaching.  As  He  speaks 
of  living  Bread,  so  He  speaks  of  living  Water. 
His  words  here,  **  If  any  man  eat  of  this 
Bread,  he  shall  live  for  ever,"  correspond  to 
His  words  elsewhere,  "The  water  that  I 
shall  give  him  shall  be  in  him  a  well  of 
water  springing  up  into  everlasting  life," 
We  must  take  the  word  "Bread"  in  the 
widest  sense,  indicating  that  He  satisfies  the 
wants  of  the  soul  as  completely  as  food  and 
drink  satisfy  those  of  the  body. 

In  saying  "  I  am  the  Bread  of  Life,"  our 
Lord  refers  in  the  first  place  to  His  source 
and  being  :  where  He  comes  from  ;  what 
He  is.  In  the  second  place,  He  refers  to 
His  purpose  and  work  :  what  He  achieves  ; 
what  He  bestows.  The  Bread  of  Life 
means  the  Bread  which  contains  life  in  itself, 
and  which  is  therefore  able  to  give  life  unto 
the  world.  On  the  one  hand,  Christ  comes 
to  us  living,  and  from  the  source  of  life. 
"I  am  the  living  Bread  which  came  down 
from  heaven."  On  the  other  hand,  He 
comes  to  us  that  we  may  live,  and  that  our 
life  may  be  eternal.      "If  any  man  eat  of 

89 


The  Sevenfold  I  AM 

this  Bread,  he  shall  live  for  ever."  The 
two  ideas  are  intimately  connected  ;  life 
begets  life.  "The  Bread  of  God  is  He 
which  {a)  cometh  down  from  heaven,  and 
{b)  giveth  life  unto  the  world."  "As  {a) 
the  living  Father  hath  sent  Me,  and  I  live 
by  the  Father  ;  so  (^)  he  that  eateth  Me, 
even  he  shall  live  by  Me."  In  a  word, 
the  Bread  of  Life  is  both  living  and  life- 
giving. 

I.  Living  Bread. 
The  Bread  of  Life  means,  first,  the  Bread 
that  comes  to  us  living,  and  forms  the  source 
of  life.  "  I  am  the  living  Bread  which  came 
down  from  heaven."  He  claims  a  heavenly 
origin,  a  Divine  ancestry.  He  compares  and 
contrasts  Himself  not  only  with  the  bread 
with  which  He  has  just  fed  the  multitude, 
but  with  the  manna  by  which  God  had  sus- 
tained His  people  in  the  wilderness.  Some 
of  His  hearers  have  referred  to  this  manna, 
quoting  the  words,  "  He  gave  them  bread 
from  heaven  to  eat."  Our  Lord  replies  that 
He  is  the  true  Bread  from  heaven,  as  superior 
to  the  manna  of  the  wilderness  as  to  the 
90 


Christ  and  Our   Faintness 

loaves  of  His  own  giving.  The  Jews  mur- 
mur at  this,  and  ask  how  He  can  thus  speak 
of  coming  down  from  heaven.  He  is  only 
"Jesus  the  son  of  Joseph,  whose  father  and 
mother  we  know.  How  is  it,  then,  that 
He  saith,  ^  I  came  down  from  heaven  '  ? ''  In 
reply,  our  Lord  is  extremely  explicit  as  to 
His  heavenly  origin.  Six  or  seven  times 
throughout  this  discourse  does  He  speak 
of  Himself  as  having  "  come  down  from 
heaven.'*  They  had  fallen  into  the  common 
error  of  thinking  that  what  they  knew  of 
His  origin  explained  everything  about  Him. 
Familiarity,  as  it  often  does,  had  bred  con- 
tempt. The  prophet  had  no  honour  in  his 
own  country.  Nor  are  they  the  last  who 
have  argued  that  because  Jesus  is  human  He 
cannot  be  Divine.  But  men  will  argue  in 
this  way  about  anything.  They  will  say  that 
because  man's  body  may  have  been  evolved 
from  lower  forms  of  life,  his  soul  can  have 
no  real  existence.  Or  they  will  argue  that 
because  a  man  has  sprung  from  the  people, 
he  cannot  have  refined  feelings  or  noble 
instincts.  But  God's  ways  of  working  are 
91 


The  Sevenfold  I  AM 

not  limited  by  any  such  rules.  He  can 
make  man  in  His  own  image,  and  so  dis- 
tinguish him  from  all  the  lower  creation. 
He  can  put  the  fire  of  genius  in  the 
humblest  peasant's  soul.  He  can  incarnate 
Himself  in  all  His  fulness  in  one  frail  human 
form.  In  Jesus  Christ  we  find  not  only  the 
Bread,  but  the  living,  the  heavenly  Bread. 
The  best  gift  is  that  which  contains  in  it 
most  of  the  giver  ;  and  so  God's  best  gift 
to  man  is  not  a  book  or  a  rule,  but  a  Life. 
What  God  gives  us  in  Christ  is  His  own 
Life,  and  that  is  why  Christ  can  speak  of 
Himself  as  living  and  heavenly  Bread.  "  In 
Him  we  have  God,  and  in  Him  we  touch 
the  actual  source  of  all  life.  In  Him  we  have 
the  one  thing  within  our  reach  which  is  not 
earth-grown,  the  one  uncorrupted  source  of 
life  to  which  we  can  turn  from  the  inadequacy, 
impurity,  and  emptiness  of  a  sin-sick  world." 

2.  LiFE-GiviNG  Bread. 

The   words   "Bread   of  Life,"   however, 
mean  more  than  this.     They  mean  not  only 
that  Christ  has  eternal  life  in  Himself,  but 
92 


Christ  and  Our  Faintness 

that  He  is  the  source  of  eternal  life  in  others. 
"  He  that  cometh  to  Me  shall  never  hunger, 
and  he  that  believeth  on  Me  shall  never 
thirst."  "  If  any  man  eat  of  this  Bread,  he 
shall  live  for  ever." 

Observe  the  condition  attached  to  the 
promise.  It  is  described  both  metaphorically 
and  literally  ;  metaphorically  by  the  word 
"eateth,"  literally  by  "cometh"  and  "be- 
lieveth." The  one  use  of  bread  is  to  be 
eaten,  and  the  one  way  of  benefiting  by  it  is 
to  eat  it.  With  food  on  the  one  side  and 
a  hungry  man  on  the  other,  eating  is  the 
natural  and  necessary  consequence.  You 
get  no  good  by  seeing  or  smelling  or  touch- 
ing bread  ;  you  can  only  benefit  by  eating 
it,  living  on  it,  making  it  part  of  yourself. 
This,  as  applied  to  our  bodily  life,  seems 
almost  childishly  simple.  But  it  is  what 
many  men  completely  fail  to  realise  in  the 
spiritual  life.  Once  be  sure  that  Christ  is 
the  Bread  of  Life — the  true,  the  living,  the 
heavenly  Bread — and  then,  surely,  the  only 
safe  and  sane  course  is  to  feed  upon  Him, 
to  take  His  nature  into  yours,  to  fill  yourself 
93 


The  Sevenfold  I  AM 

with  His  fulness,  to  assimilate  Him  and  be 
partakers  of  Him.  Yet  that  is  where  so 
many  of  us  fail.  We  look,  we  hear,  we 
touch,  but  we  will  not  eat  and  live.  We 
talk  about  Christ,  read  about  Him,  sing  to 
Him,  call  ourselves  by  His  name,  associate 
ourselves  with  His  Church ;  but  we  will 
not  come  to  Him  that  we  may  have  life ; 
we  will  not  let  Him  dwell  in  us,  occupy 
us,  transfigure  us.  What  a  power  would 
Christians  exercise  in  the  world  did  their  lives 
express  the  spirit  of  St.  Patrick's  hymn — 

Christ  be  with  me,  Christ  within  me, 
Christ  behind  me,  Christ  before  me, 
Christ  beside  me,  Christ  to  win  me, 
Christ  to  comfort  and  restore  me, 
Christ  beneath  me,  Christ  above  me, 
Christ  in  quiet,  Christ  in  danger, 
Christ  in  hearts  of  all  who  love  me, 
Christ  in  mouth  of  friend  and  stranger. 

Acceptance  is  the   condition ;    life  is  the 

and.     The  living  Bread,  from  a  living  God, 

makes  living  men.     "As  the  living  Father 

hath  sent  Me,  and  I  live  by  the  Father  ;  so 

he  that  eateth  Me,  even  he  shall  live  by  Me." 

The    bond    is    a    living     one    throughout. 

Christ's  own  meat  and  drink  were  to  do  the 

94 


Christ  and  Our  Faintness 

will  of  Him  that  sent  Him,  and  ours  must 
be  to  do  the  will  of  Him  that  has  sent  us. 
The  result  will  be — life  ;  the  only  life  worth 
living. 

The  life,  too,  will  be  an  eternal  one  ;  for 
this  is  a  point  on  which  our  Lord  insists 
with  the  most  marked  emphasis.  If  there  is 
anything  more  emphatic  than  His  reiteration 
of  the  phrase  "  I  came  down  from  heaven,'' 
it  is  His  assurance  of  immortality  contained 
in  such  words  as  "  He  shall  live  for  ever," 
"  He  shall  never  die,"  "  I  will  raise  him  up 
at  the  last  day."  The  bread  with  which  He 
had  fed  the  multitude,  wondrous  though  it 
might  be,  was  only  "  meat  which  perisheth  ''  ; 
the  other  was  "  meat  which  endureth."  Nay, 
the  very  manna  given  in  the  wilderness — 
bread  from  heaven  though  it  was — was  bread 
of  which  their  fathers  had  eaten  and  were 
dead  ;  whereas  "  he  that  eateth  of  this  Bread 
shall  live  for  ever."  It  must  always  be  so. 
Live  on  what  is  temporary,  evanescent,  fleet- 
ing, and  you  yourself  will  become  a  mere 
creature  of  a  day,  possessing  nothing  that  can 
endure  to  the  end,  no  fruit  that  can  remain. 
95 


The  Sevenfold  I  AM 

Live  on  what  is  permanent,  eternal,  immortal, 
and  you  yourself  will  have  a  place  among  the 
immortals  ;  you  will  have  that  within  you 
which  cannot  die.  "  The  world  passeth  away, 
and  the  lust  thereof ;  but  he  that  doeth  the 
will  of  God  abideth  for  ever.'*  Poets  and 
alchemists  have  dreamed  of  an  elixir  of  life, 
by  drinking  which  a  man  could  secure  per- 
petual life  and  youth.  But  Christ  affords 
the  only  elixir  that  will  not  disappoint  or 
embitter  us.  "  If  any  man  eat  of  this  Bread, 
he  shall  live  for  ever.'*  Apart  from  Him 
there  is  no  immortality.  Take  His  life  into 
yours  and  you  cannot  die.  You  are  one 
with  God,  because  you  live  on  Him  Who 
lives  on  God. 

Life  through  Death. 

It  is  significant  that  in  the  latter  part  of 
His  discourse  our  Lord  finds  even  the  word 
^'  Bread  "  insufficient  to  express  His  meaning, 
and  changes  it  to  a  stronger  and  more  specific 
term — "flesh."  "The  bread  which  I  will 
give  is  My  flesh,  which  I  will  give  for  the 
life  of  the  world."     This  expression  seemed 

96 


Christ  and  Our  Faintness 

to  those  who  heard  it  even  more  harsh  and 
strange  than  the  former.  They  had  "  mur- 
mured at  Him  "  when  He  called  Himself 
the  Bread  from  heaven.  They  now  "  strove 
among  themselves,  saying,  How  can  this 
man  give  us  his  flesh  to  eat  ?  "  Yet  there 
was  a  reason  for  the  transition  from  the  one 
term  to  the  other.  While  bread  and  flesh 
both  mean  food,  there  is  this  difi^erence 
between  them,  that  flesh  can  become  our 
food  only  through  death.  What  is  death  to 
the  one  being  is  life  to  the  other.  We  have 
already  seen  how  the  Bread  of  Life  is  both 
living  and  life-giving ;  life-giving  because 
living.  But  it  is  only  now  that  we  are  given 
the  real  connection  between  the  two.  It  is 
by  giving  up  His  life  that  Christ  gives  life 
to  others.  Jesus  had  already  contrasted 
Himself  with  the  bread  He  had  given  to  the 
hungry  people,  and  with  the  manna  rained 
from  heaven  in  the  wilderness.  Here,  how- 
ever, He  compares  Himself  to  another  and 
still  more  sacred  food.  This  was  the  lamb 
of  the  paschal  service,  whose  flesh  was  eaten 
by  the  people,  and  whose  blood  was  sprinkled 
o  97 


The  Sevenfold  I  AM 

on  their  houses,  In  memory  of  God's  de- 
liverance. When  He  says,  "  The  bread  that 
I  will  give  is  My  flesh,  which  I  will  give  for 
the  life  of  the  world,"  He  is  expressing  the 
same  truth  emphasised  in  His  later  words, 
"This  is  My  Body,  which  is  broken  for 
you.  •  .  .  This  is  My  Blood  of  the  new 
covenant,  which  is  shed  for  many  for  the 
remission  of  sins."  The  law  of  death-in- 
life  finds  its  full  expression  in  the  sacrifice 
of  Jesus  Christ.  He  became  poor  that  we 
might  be  rich  ;  He  suffered  that  we  might 
reign  ;  He  died  that  we  might  live. 

Thine  the  sharp  thorns,  and  mine  the  golden  crown : 
Mine  the  life  won,  and  Thine  the  life  laid  down. 

Had  Jesus  merely  spoken  of  our  eating  the 
Bread,  we  might  have  imagined  that  He  was  but 
referring  to  our  copying  the  example  of  His 
earthly  life.  But  when  He  speaks  of  our 
eating  His  flesh  and  drinking  His  blood, 
He  touches  a  principle  deeper  and  more 
vital.  We  are  to  believe  on  Him  as  the 
One  Who  died  for  us  and  lives  again.  We 
are  to  appropriate  His  sacrifice  and  make  it 

98 


Christ  and  Our  ^^.ainxnc&§ 

our  own.  We  are  to  act  out  in  practice  the 
beautifully  suggestive  words  of  St.  Paul  : 
"Always  bearing  about  in  the  body  the 
dying  of  the  Lord  Jesus,  that  the  life  also  of 
Jesus  might  be  made  manifest  in  our  body." 

Christ  the  Bread  of  Life,  then,  means  to 
us  the  indwelling  Christ — the  Christ  in  man. 
What  is  it  that  gives  the  Sacrament  of  the 
Holy  Communion  its  eternal  vitality  ?  What 
makes  it,  under  all  forms  and  in  spite  of  all 
controversies,  the  service  of  the  Church  ? 
Largely,  no  doubt,  our  Saviour's  command, 
"This  do  in  remembrance  of  Me."  But 
this  only  takes  us  a  step  farther  back.  Why 
was  the  command  given  ?  we  ask  with  all 
reverence.  Why  was  this  act,  of  all  others, 
perpetuated  ?  Surely  because  it  responds  to 
an  essential  want  in  man's  nature — that  he 
must  eat  in  order  to  live.  Man's  principal 
need  is  not  a  strength  without  but  a  strength 
within  ;  not  a  strength  on  which  he  must 
lean,  but  a  strength  by  which  he  can  stand. 
We  are  not  merely  to  admire  and  follow 
Christ,  but  to  possess  Him  re-incarnate 
99 


:      ;Tbe:  Scyc^^^       I  AM 

within  our  own  being.  In  Christ  the  Good 
Shepherd  we  have  a  Guide,  a  Friend.  We 
know  His  voice,  we  feel  His  hand,  we  lean 
on  His  bosom.  But  in  Christ  the  Bread  of 
Life  we  can  have  Him  within  ourselves. 
His  voice  rings  out  in  ours  ;  His  mark  is 
on  our  forehead,  His  grace  in  our  counten- 
ance, His  strength  in  our  arm.  "Should 
any  one,'*  said  the  great  German  reformer, 
^' knock  at  my  breast  and  say,  'Who  lives 
here  ? '  I  should  reply,  '  Not  Martin  Luther, 
but  the  Lord  Jesus.' "  Let  us  cling  fast, 
then,  to  the  truth  expressed  in  the  words, 
"  I  am  the  Bread  of  Life."  Let  us  find  in 
Christ  the  satisfaction,  the  nourishment,  the 
strength  of  the  soul.  Let  us  see  in  Him 
the  true,  the  living,  the  heavenly,  the  en- 
during Bread.  Let  us  realise  what  He  gives 
us,  and  how  He  lays  down  His  life  that  it 
may  be  the  source  of  new  life  in  us.  As 
He  gives,  let  us  receive.  Making  Him  our 
very  own,  feeding  on  Him,  strengthened  by 
Him,  we  shall  receive  out  of  His  fulness  the 
gift  of  everlasting  Life. 

lOO 


CHRIST  AND  OUR  BARRENNESS 


VI 

CHRIST  AND   OUR   BARRENNESS 

"  I  AM  the  Vine,  ye  are  the  branches :  he  thatabideth 
in  Me,  and  I  in  him,  the  same  bringeth  forth  much  fruit ; 
for  without  Me  ye  can  do  nothing." — St.  John  xv.  5. 

The  allegory  of  the  True  Vine  is,  in  a 
sense,  complementary  to  that  of  the  Bread 
of  Life,  and  expresses  a  different  side  of 
the  same  truth.  Both  of  them  are  designed 
to  show  that  intimate  union  of  Christ  with 
His  people  of  which  the  Sacrament  is  the 
sign  and  seal :  the  truth  that  they  dwell  in 
Him  and  He  in  them.  But  while  the 
figure  of  Bread  is  best  adapted  for  showing 
the  one  side  of  this  relationship,  the  figure 
of  the  Vine  best  shows  the  other.  The 
message  of  the  Bread  of  Life  is  "  Christ  in 
us  "  ;  the  message  of  the  True  Vine  is  "  we 
in  Christ."  As  partakers  of  the  Bread,  we 
take  Christ  into  ourselves,  and  have  Him 
103 


The  Sevenfold  I  AM 

dwelling  within  us.  As  branches  of  the 
Vine  we  are  grafted  into  Him,  merge  our 
lives  in  His,  and  participate  in  His  Divine 
life. 

This  distinction  carries  us  farther  than 
we  are  apt  to  think.  For  it  is  here  that 
we  realise  for  the  first  time  how  our  relation 
to  Christ  takes  us  beyond  the  mere  satisfy- 
ing of  our  own  wants.  Hitherto  it  has 
been  because  we  could  get  so  little  good 
elsewhere  that  we  came  to  Christ.  Here, 
on  the  contrary,  it  is  because  we  can  do  so 
little  good  otherwise  that  we  come  to  Christ. 
Hitherto,  while  no  doubt  the  good  of  others 
has  been  implied,  the  satisfying  of  our  own 
wants  has  been  the  chief  end  and  aim. 
Christ  has  offered  Himself  as  a  Light  to  our 
darkness,  a  Door  which  we  may  enter,  a 
Way  by  which  to  travel,  a  Shepherd  whom 
we  may  know  and  follow.  And  in  the 
great  allegory  of  the  Bread  of  Life  He  has 
said,  "He  that  cometh  to  Me  shall  never 
hunger,  and  he  that  believeth  in  Me  shall 
never  thirst."  But  our  present  allegory  is 
quite  different.  It  is  not  "  He  that  abideth 
104 


Christ  and  Our  Barrenness 

in  Me,  the  same  shall  eat  much  fruit,"  but 
"  he  that  abideth  in  Me  and  I  in  him,  the 
same  bringeth  forth  much  fruit."  We  are 
not  to  be  consumers,  but  producers.  We 
are  to  measure  life  "  not  by  the  wine  drunk, 
but  the  wine  poured  forth."  Not  our 
faintness,  but  our  barrenness,  is  the  chief 
trouble  here.  "Eat  fruit  and  live"  ex- 
presses a  great  truth  ;  but  "  Bear  fruit  and 
live "  expresses  a  greater.  Our  coming  to 
Christ  is  to  lead  us  far  beyond  ourselves. 
We  are  not  only  to  be  disciples ;  we 
are  to  be  apostles.  Faith  without  works  is 
dead.  Privilege  cannot  be  divorced  from 
responsibility.  Freely  we  have  received ; 
let  us  freely  give.  Gladly  would  we  learn  ; 
let  us  gladly  teach. 

The  lesson,  no  doubt,  is  not  entirely 
new.  We  have  had  glimpses  of  it  in  what 
was  said  of  the  Light  and  the  Shepherd. 
But  here  for  the  first  time  is  fruit-bearing 
put  in  the  foreground.  We  need  not 
therefore  be  surprised  that  this  /  am 
was  spoken  later  than  the  others,  or  that  it 
was  one  of  those  spoken  to  the  inner  circle, 
105 


The   Sevenfold  I  AM 

not  to  the  multitude.  Its  appeal  is  to  those 
who  have  advanced  some  little  way  in  the 
Christian  life  ;  to  those  who,  having  been 
helped,  are  prepared  to  become  helpers  in 
turn. 

The  Occasion. 

It  is  perhaps  just  for  this  reason  that  our 
Lord  here  makes  use  of  the  figure  of  the 
Vine,  though  other  causes  may  have  con- 
tributed to  bring  it  to  His  mind.  He  had 
alluded  to  the  Vine  in  instituting  the  Holy 
Supper,  saying  that  He  would  drink  no  more 
of  its  fruit  until  He  drank  it  new  with  His 
disciples  in  His  Father's  Kingdom.  In  the 
valley  of  the  Kedron,  where  He  walked  with 
them  shortly  afterwards,  there  were  vines 
with  spreading  branches  ;  and  over  the  gate- 
way of  the  Temple  there  was  a  wreath  of 
golden  vines  with  large  clusters  of  grapes. 
Often  had  Israel  been  compared  by  the 
prophets  to  a  vine  or  a  vineyard.  And  one 
reason  for  this  lay  in  the  fact  that  the  vine, 
more  than  any  other  tree,  has  the  production 
of  fruit  as  its  one  end  and  aim.  Eliminate 
the  fruit,  and  its  usefulness  is  at  an  end. 
io6 


Christ  and  Our  Barrenness 

Ezeklel  gives  a  striking  parable  of  a  vine — 
a  fruitless  vine.  "  Shall  wood,"  he  says, 
"  be  taken  thereof  to  do  any  work  ?  or  will 
man  take  a  pin  of  it  to  hang  any  vessel 
thereon  ?  Is  it  meet  for  any  work  ?  "  The 
sole  end  of  the  vine  is  the  producing  of 
fruit ;  and  for  this  it  is  cut  and  pruned  and 
held  back  in  every  other  way.  Nothing 
could  better  suggest  the  sacrifice,  the  de- 
votion, the  consecration  of  a  true  Christian 
life.     And  therefore  Christ 

did  not  choose  the  summer  corn, 
That  shoots  up  straight  and  free  in  one  quick  growth, 
And  has  its  day,  and  is  done,  and  springs  no  more  ; 
Nor  yet  the  olive,  all  whose  boughs  are  spread 
In  the  soft  air,  and  never  lose  a  leaf. 
Flowering  and  fruitful  in  perpetual  peace; 
But  only  this  for  Him  and  His  in  one, 
The  everlasting,  ever-quickening  Vine, 
That  gives  the  heat  and  passion  of  the  world, 
Through  its  own  life-blood,  still  renewed  and  shed. 

Christ  the  Vine  :    We  the  Branches. 

In  what  our  Lord  says  of  the  Vine  and 
the  branches,  He  dwells  less  upon  Himself 
than  in   any  of  the   other  figures  wc  have 
107 


The  Sevenfold  I  AM 

Studied.  While  He  says,  "  I  am  the  True 
Vine,  and  My  Father  is  the  Husbandman," 
the  main  interest  of  the  picture  is  made  to 
centre  in  the  branches.  The  message  He 
gives  is  a  bracing  rather  than  a  soothing 
one.  It  is  an  invitation  to  work,  not  to  rest 
On  the  branches  is  thrown  the  responsibility 
not  only  for  their  own  usefulness,  but  for 
the  credit  of  the  Vine  and  the  Husbandman. 
It  is  through  the  branches  alone  that  the 
Vine  can  work,  and  on  them  that  its  success 
must  largely  depend.  In  the  branches'  ful- 
filment of  their  task  lies  the  ethical  import 
of  the  parable. 

The  functions  of  a  branch,  as  here  set 
forth,  are  two  in  number,  and  they  are  very 
closely  and  intimately  connected.  One  is, 
to  bring  forth  fruit ;  the  other  is,  to  abide 
in  the  Vine.  Every  branch,  to  fulfil  its 
proper  end,  must  do  both.  The  branch 
stands  midway  between  stem  and  fruit, 
deriving  life  from  the  one,  and  communicat- 
ing it  to  the  other.  Its  business  is  at  once 
to  get  and  to  give ;  to  derive  sap  from  the 
true  source,  and  to  impart  this  in  some 
io8 


Christ  and  Our  Barrenness 

form  to  the  fruit.  So  must  It  be  with  all 
Christian  profession  and  service.  In  It  all 
there  must  be  a  getting  and  a  giving.  We 
cannot  communicate  to  others  what  we  have 
not  ourselves  received.  Nothing  can  flow 
out  where  nothing  has  flowed  In.  "As  the 
branch  cannot  bear  fruit  of  Itself,  except  It 
abide  In  the  Vine  ;  no  more  can  ye,  except 
ye  abide  In  Me."  Yet  we  cannot  properly 
receive  without  being  ready  to  give.  "  He 
that  abldeth  In  Me  and  I  In  him,  the  same 
bringeth  forth  much  fruit." 

I.  Bring  forth  Fruit. 

No  more  Important  lesson  could  have 
been  put  before  the  apostles  at  that  hour. 
The  personal  ministry  of  Jesus  on  earth  was 
about  to  close,  and  theirs  was  about  to 
begin.  There  was  an  Immense  work  ahead 
of  them,  of  which  as  yet  only  the  firstfrults 
had  been  gathered.  Fruit,  then,  was  the 
end  at  which  they  must  aim.  And  what 
holds  good  of  them  holds  good  of  us.  "  By 
their  fruits  ye  shall  know  them,"  our  Lord 
had  said  ;  and  by  fruits  men,  like  trees,  are 
109 


The  Sevenfold  I  AM 

known  still.  The  world  is  becoming  less 
and  less  satisfied  with  anything  short  of 
fruits.  High-sounding  titles  with  no  reality 
behind  them ;  offices  of  profit  with  no 
corresponding  duty — the  days  of  such  things 
are  numbered.  And  the  demand  for  fruits 
is  surely  a  reasonable  one.  Carlyle's  "  What 
hast  thou  done,  and  how  ?  Out  with  it — let 
us  see  thy  work  !  '*  is  a  test  which  no  one, 
least  of  all  the  follower  of  Christ,  has  any 
right  to  resent.  For  it  is  not  only  the  world 
that  asks  for  fruits.  God  asks  for  fruits, 
and  He  is  a  far  better  judge  than  the  world 
as  to  whether  fruits  are  of  the  right  kind. 
Our  Lord  accordingly  draws  a  sharp  dis- 
tinction between  the  branches  which  bear 
fruit  and  those  which  do  not.  Fruitfulness 
is  to  be  the  all-important  test ;  and  on  the 
presence  or  absence  of  it  our  fate  is  to 
depend. 

barren  branches. — "Every  branch  in  Me 
that  beareth  not  fruit  He  taketh  away."  No 
branch  of  a  fruit-tree  has  the  right  to  be 
merely  ornamental.  No  follower  of  Christ 
is  allowed  to  be  inactive.  If  we  are  not 
no 


Christ  and  Our  Barrenness 

helping  His  work,  we  are  hindering  it.  We 
are  not  only  doing  no  good  ;  we  are  doing 
positive  harm.  We  are  taking  up  the  place 
that  might  be  occupied  by  others  who  would 
do  better  work  than  we,  and  the  sooner  we 
are  taken  away  the  better  for  that  work, 
"To  go  through  life,"  says  Froude,  "and 
plead  at  the  end  of  it  that  we  have  not 
broken  any  of  the  commandments,  is  but 
what  the  unprofitable  servant  did  who  kept 
his  talent  carefully  unspent,  and  yet  was 
sent  to  outer  darkness  for  his  uselessness." 
It  is  true  that  God  has  infinite  patience. 
But  there  comes  a  limit  to  the  opportunities 
a  man  ought  to  have.  The  fig-tree  that 
bears  nothing  but  leaves  is  doomed.  The 
candlestick  that  carries  no  light  Is  removed 
out  of  its  place.  So  must  the  barren  branch 
be  removed.  The  tree  is  not  dependent  on 
the  life  of  any  one  branch. 

God  doth  not  need 
Either  man's  work  or  His  own  gifts 

He    can    accomplish    His    purposes    quite 

well  without  us  ;  we  are  not  indispensable. 

If  we  fail  to  produce  /ruit,  ours  will  be  the 

III 


The  Sevenfold  I  AM 

penalty ;  we  shall  simply  be  taken  away, 
passed  over,  done  without.  The  vine  will 
flourish,  but  we  shall  have  no  part  in  its 
flourishing.  Those  who  live  for  self,  and 
not  for  others  and  for  Christ,  are  not  wanted  ; 
they  are  of  no  use  in  the  kingdom  of  God. 

Fruitful  branches.  —  "Every  branch  that 
beareth  fruit.  He  purgeth  it,  that  it  may 
bring  forth  more  fruit."  We  must  not  com- 
plain if  we  are  not  rewarded  at  once  when 
we  do  well.  Part  of  the  branch  may  have 
to  be  removed  that  the  rest  may  do  better 
work ;  trials  often  only  begin  when  we 
determine  to  do  right.  But  just  as  fire  tries 
the  gold,  and  turns  iron  into  the  finer  steel, 
and  as  pruning  helps  the  fruit,  so  has  many 
a  man  been  helped  by  the  trouble  God  has 
sent  him.  Pascal  turned  his  ill-health  into 
a  means  of  spiritual  perfection.  Wesley 
accepted  the  wreck  of  his  domestic  happiness 
as  another  call  to  his  public  work.  John 
Henry  Shorthouse  regarded  the  painful 
stammer  from  which  he  suffered  as  a  means 
of  concentrating  his  energies  on  literature. 
If  our  end   and  aim   be   fruit-bearing,   we 

XI2 


Christ  and  Our  Barrenness 

must  be  prepared  to  put  happiness  or  un- 
happiness  on  one  side  as  of  comparatively 
little  account.  "I  never  allow  myself,"  said 
Gladstone,  "  in  regard  to  my  public  life,  to 
dwell  upon  the  fact  that  a  thing  is  painful. 
Indeed,  life  has  no  time  for  such  broodings." 
After  all,  we  are  not  here  for  pleasure  but 
for  work  ;  and  much  that  is  pleasant,  and 
even  beautiful  of  its  kind,  may  have  to  be 
given  up  that  the  one  end  may  be  served. 
The  choice  is  here  put  plainly  before  us. 
We  must  be  thrown  aside  as  useless,  or  else 
tried  in  order  to  greater  efficiency  in  the 
Master's  service.  Let  us  choose  the  higher 
and  harder  path. 

Fruit-bearing,  however,  is  dependent  on  a 
prior  condition. 

2.  Abide  in  the  Vine. 

This  watchword  was  no  less  necessary  for 
the  apostles  than  the  other.  There  was  to 
be  no  loosening  of  the  tie  that  bound  them 
to  their  Lord.  Bewildered  as  they  were  by 
the  tidings  that  He  was  soon  to  leave  them, 
the  bond  between  Him  and  them  must  be 
H  113 


The  Sevenfold  I  AM 

Strengthened,  not.  relaxed.  They  must 
realise  that  His  bodily  absence  really  involved 
a  spiritual  presence.  Henceforth  He  was  to 
be  nearer  them  than  when  on  earth.  His 
Holy  Spirit,  the  Comforter,  was  to  dwell 
with  them  and  enter  into  them.  But  there 
must  be  two  sides  to  every  spiritual  relation- 
ship. The  prayer,  "  Abide  with  us,"  cannot 
be  answered  unless  the  command,  "  Abide  in 
Me,"  is  obeyed.  The  unity  between  Christ 
and  His  people  must  be  a  real  one — a  unity  of 
spirit  and  life.  A  branch  plucked  from  the 
tree  may,  like  flowers  gathered  for  a  nosegay, 
look  well  for  a  time,  but  its  real  life  is  gone. 
"  Th€  branch  cannot  bear  fruit  of  itself." 
To  realise  this  is  a  crying  necessity  in  our 
busy  age.  The  life  of  any  earnest  man  be- 
comes so  full  of  outward  activities  that  it  is 
quite  possible  for  the  servant  of  Christ  to 
become  so  concerned  over  so-called  fruit- 
bearing  as  to  lose  sight  of  Christ's  other 
command,  "  Abide  in  Me."  Even  William 
Wilberforce's  celebrated  retort  to  the  lady 
who  asked  him,  in  the  midst  of  his  self- 
denying  work,  whether  he  ever  took  thought 
114 


Christ  and  Our  Barrenness 

for  his  soul — "  Madam,  I  had  forgotten  I 
had  one " — is  not  altogether  to  be  com- 
mended. If  fruit  is  to  be  real,  the  branch 
must  abide  in  the  Vine.  The  life  for  Christ 
can  only  be  blessed  if  it  is  also  a  life  in 
Christ. 

These  words  of  our  Lord,  "  Abide  in  Me," 
bring  into  view  a  deeper  distinction  between 
branches  than  even  that  afforded  by  the 
presence  or  absence  of  fruit.  If  the  barren 
be  opposed  to  the  fruitful  branch,  still  more 
sharply  opposed  to  one  another  are  the  dead 
branches  and  the  living. 

Dead  branches. — "  If  a  man  abide  not  in  Me, 
he  is  cast  forth  as  a  branch,  and  is  withered  ; 
and  men  gather  them,  and  cast  them  into 
the  fire,  and  they  are  burned."  A  branch 
that  was  merely  barren  might  be  spared  for  a 
time ;  but  a  dead  one  never.  "  Without 
Me  ye  can  do  nothing."  A  Christian  without 
Christ  is  like  a  severed  limb  or  a  broken 
twig — good  for  nothing,  and  possessing  no 
life.  Yet  individuals  and  even  Churches 
may  be  found  in  this  condition.  "Thou 
hast  a  name  that  thou  livest,"  says  the 
115 


The  Sevenfold  I  AM 

Lord's  messenger  to  the  Church  In  Sardis, 
"and  art  dead."  It  was  a  Church  "on 
paper  "  ;  it  had  lost  all  reality,  because  it  had 
lost  touch  with  Christ.  It  was  like  a  dead 
branch,  differing  from  it  only  In  this,  that  it 
was  not  beyond  the  power  of  Christ's  reviv- 
ing hand.  It  is  sad  to  think  that  there  have 
been  branches  of  the  Vine  not  only  barren, 
but  dead.  Only  by  abiding  In  Him  can  we 
maintain  our  spiritual  life.  Apart  from  Him 
we  not  only  fail  in  our  influence  over  others  ; 
we  are  devoid  of  life  in  ourselves.  We  are 
like  salt  that  has  lost  its  savour ;  like 
branches  that  have  lost  their  sap.  To  be 
cast  forth,  gathered,  burned — not  even  as 
fuel,  but  as  a  waste-heap — is  all  that  such 
branches  are  good  for. 

Living  branches. — "  If  ye  abide  in  Me,  and 
My  words  abide  in  you,  ye  shall  ask  what  ye 
will,  and  It  shall  be  done  unto  you."  The 
Idea  Involved  here  is  greater  than  can  well 
be  confined  within  the  fetters  of  an  allegory — 
even  such  an  allegory  as  that  of  the  True 
Vine.  The  framework  Is  discarded  when  it 
has  served  Its  purpose.  Christ  speaks  here 
ii6 


Christ  and  Our  Barrenness 

of  living  members  rather  than  of  living 
branches.  It  is  when  there  is  unity  of  life 
between  Christ  and  His  people — when  He 
is  in  them  and  they  are  in  Him — that  they 
get  from  Him  the  strength  they  need.  As 
a  living  branch  can  draw  from  the  Vine 
sufficient  strength  for  its  needs,  so  there  are 
no  limits  to  the  strength  which  the  man  who 
"  abides  in  Christ "  can  draw  from  Him. 
We  have  but  to  "  ask  what  we  will."  And 
the  best  thing  of  all  we  can  ask  is  a  fuller 
measure  of  that  self-sacrificing  love  which  is 
in  Himself,  that  we  may  bring  forth  the 
Vine's  own  fruit.  Each  one  of  us  has  it  in 
his  power  to  become,  in  the  words  of  Whit- 
field about  Isaac  Watts,  "a  bit  of  Christ." 
The  worth  of  our  influence  on  others  will  be 
measured  by  the  extent  of  Christ's  influence 
on  us.  As  we  realise  our  own  helplessness 
and  barrenness,  we  shall  rely  more  and  more 
upon  the  fountain  of  strength  within.  To 
Christ's  words,  *'  Without  Me  ye  can  do 
nothing,"  we  shall  add  these  of  St.  Paul, 
"I  can  do  all  things  through  Christ  which 
strengtheneth  me." 

117 


The  Sevenfold  I  AM 

"I  am  the  Vine"  is  perhaps  the  most 
closely-reasoned  and  suggestive  of  all  the 
allegories  of  our  Lord  about  Himself.  A 
recapitulation  of  its  main  features  may  be 
helpful.  Christ  is  the  Vine,  His  Father  the 
Husbandman,  His  people  the  branches. 
These  branches  must  (i)  bring  forth  fruit  \ 
they  must  not  be  {a)  barren  — else  they  may 
be  *^  taken  away  " — but  {U)  fruitful — even 
though  they  may  have  to  be  purged  to 
ensure  greater  fruitfulness.  To  accomplish 
this,  they  must  (2)  abide  in  the  Vine  :  they 
must  not  be  {a)  dead — else  they  will  be  cast 
out  and  burned — but  {U)  living — that  they 
may  receive  from  the  Vine  the  strength  they 
need. 

The  picture  is  a  vivid  one,  and  whether 
we  have  rightly  interpreted  all  its  details  or 
not,  it  brings  into  prominence  the  two 
essentials  of  the  Christian  life — union  with 
Christ  and  service  for  man.  These  it 
focuses  in  the  two  commands,  "Abide  in 
Me,"  and  "Bring  forth  fruit."  There  we 
have  life  in  Christ  and  life  for  Christ ;  the 
one  enabling  us  to  say  "  Whose  I  am,"  the 
118 


Christ  and  Our  Barrenness 

other  "  Whom  I  serve."  As  the  life  of  the 
Vine  abides  in  the  branches  and  the  branches 
in  the  Vine,  so  must  Christians  dwell  in 
Christ  and  Christ  in  them.  And  as  the 
branches  are  the  only  means  whereby  the 
Vine  can  produce  its  fruit,  so  are  Christians 
the  means  whereby  the  life  and  power  of 
Christ  are  to  be  communicated  to  the  world. 
While  the  Christian  life  is  hid  with  Christ  in 
God,  its  fruits  are  known  and  tasted  of  men. 


119 


VII 
CHRIST  AND  OUR  DEADNESS 


VII 
CHRIST  AND   OUR   DEADNESS 

*<  I  AM  the  Resurrection,  and  the  Life :  he  that  be- 
lieveth  in  Me,  though  he  were  dead,  yet  shall  he  live : 
and  whosoever  liveth,  and  believeth  in  Me,  shall  never 
die." — St.  John  xi.  25. 

"I  AM  the  Resurrection  and  the  Life." 
Such  are  the  solemn  triumphant  words 
which  we  have  heard  read  at  many  a  burial 
service,  converting  what  would  otherwise  be 
a  ceremony  of  utter  darkness  and  gloom 
into  an  observance  of  sober  joy  and  hope. 
Spoken  in  the  presence  of  death  and  the 
grave,  they  serve  to  remind  us  of  Him  who 
has  robbed  the  one  of  its  sting  and  the  other 
of  its  victory.  They  take  us  back  to  the 
hour  when  they  were  first  uttered — the  hour 
when  the  Lord  of  Life  showed  a  sorrowing 
woman  His  power  over  death.  They  bid  us 
think,  too,  of  that  hour  when  other  sorrow- 
ing women,  standing  by  another  tomb,  heard 
123 


The  Sevenfold  I  AM 

the  words,  "  I  know  that  ye  seek  Jesus,  which 
was  crucified.  He  is  not  here,  for  He  is 
risen,  as  He  said." 

We  must  have  already  been  struck  by  the 
fact  that  the  various  gifts  offered  by  our 
Lord  for  the  satisfaction  of  our  human  needs 
all  consist  of  life  in  some  one  or  other  of  its 
forms.  Does  He  call  Himself  the  Light  ? 
"  He  shall  have  the  Light  of  Life."  Or  the 
Way  ?  "  I  am  the  Way,  the  Truth,  and  the 
Life."  Or  the  Shepherd  ?  "  I  am  come 
that  they  might  have  Life."  Or  the  Bread  ? 
"  I  am  the  Bread  of  Life."  Even  where  not 
expressed,  the  idea  is  implied.  It  is  Life  to 
which  the  Door  gives  entrance  ;  Life  that 
unites  Vine  and  branches.  And  now  the 
Life  which  has  triumphed  over  hunger, 
thirst,  darkness,  barrenness,  triumphs  over 
its  great  enemy,  death.  In  the  presence  of 
the  dreadest  fact  of  all,  Christ  makes  His 
highest  claim,  calls  on  faith  to  make  its  final 
venture,  bids  His  people  trust  Him  to  the 
uttermost.  He  who  is  the  Light  of  life,  the 
Way  of  life,  the  Shepherd  of  life,  the  Bread  of 
life,  is  now  "  The  Resurrection  and  the  Life." 
124 


Christ  and  Our  Deadness 

Christ  the  Resurrection  and  the  Life. 

It  Is  important  to  observe,  by  way  of 
analysis,  that  the  verse  in  which  our  Lord 
makes  this  claim  has  two  clauses,  and  that 
each  of  them  is  in  its  turn  divided,  the 
division  in  the  second  clause  corresponding 
to  the  division  in  the  first.  The  first  clause 
is  about  Christ  Himself ;  the  second  is 
about  His  people.  The  first  begins  with  "  I 
am  "  ;  the  second  with  "  He  that  believeth 
in  Me."  The  first  gives  us  two  names  for 
Christ ;  the  second  gives  us  two  facts  about 
His  people  which  correspond  to  these  names. 
The  two  names  are  Resurrection  and  Life. 
To  the  first  name,  "  I  am  the  Resurrection," 
correspond  the  words,  "  He  that  believeth 
in  Me,  though  he  were  dead,  yet  shall  he 
live."  To  the  second  name,  "  I  am  the 
Life, "  correspond  the  words,  "  Whosoever 
liveth,  and  believeth  in  Me,  shall  never  die." 

Before  studying  the  two  names  separately, 

it  is  worth  while  to  notice  the  words  "  I  am," 

which   cover    both    the    names   in    the    first 

clause,  and  the  words  "  he  that  believeth  in 

125 


The  Sevenfold  I  AM 

Me,"  which  cover  both  the  facts  in  the 
second.  His  claim  is  not  primarily,  "  I  give 
you,"  but  "I  am."  He  gives  of  Himself. 
As  a  sovereign  confers  a  title  in  virtue  of 
being  the  fountain  of  honour,  so  Christ  con- 
fers life  as  being  Himself  the  Fountain  of 
life.  In  this  interview  Martha  has  spoken  to 
Him  of  a  resurrection  at  the  last  day  ;  but 
He  would  lead  her  from  trust  in  a  future 
event  to  trust  in  a  living  Person.  Victory 
over  death  is  His  personal  work.  Our 
hopes  of  immortality  are  centred  in  Christ. 
Our  trust  in  Him  carries  us  beyond  trust 
in  His  promises.  Faith  does  not  mean  our 
belief  that  He  will  do  this  or  that  for  us, 
but  our  belief  in  Himself.  We  believe  that 
a  promise  will  be  kept  because  we  believe 
in  the  one  who  makes  the  promise.  So 
with  Christ  it  is  /  am^  not  I  give.  "  He 
that  belie veth  in  {Me^'  not  in  My  gifts. 
Faith  in  the  Person  is  what  involves  faith  in 
the  promises.  The  best  illustration  of  this 
is  given  in  the  words  that  follow.  He  asks, 
"Believest  thou  this?"  Martha's  answer 
practically  amounts  to  saying,  "I  do  more 
126 


Christ  and  Our  Deadncss 

than  believe  this — I  believe  Thee^  "Yea, 
Lord,"  she  says,  "  I  believe  that  Thou  art  the 
Christ,  the  Son  of  God,  which  should  come 
into  the  world."  Christ  is  the  Fountain  of 
immortality,  and  he  that  is  united  to  Christ 
is  partaker  of  His  immortality.  The  gift 
held  out  in  "  I  am  "  is  accepted  by  "  whoso- 
ever believeth  in  Me." 

The  two  names  which  our  Lord  here  gives 
Himself  indicate  respectively  two  sides  of 
His  work  :  His  power  of  raising  the  dead  to 
life,  and  His  power  of  preserving  the  living 
from  death.  "  I  am  the  Resurrection  .  .  . 
he  that  believeth  in  Me,  though  he  were 
dead,  yet  shall  he  live."  "I  am  the  Life 
.  .  .  whosoever  liveth,  and  believeth  in  Me, 
shall  never  die." 

I.    The  Resurrection. 

This  name  implies  and  takes  into  account 
the  great  fact  of  death — a  fact  never  to  be 
lightly  passed  over.  If  some  of  the  heathen 
moralists  were  wont  to  bestow  too  much 
thought  on  death,  that  was  better  far  than 
belittling  or  ignoring  it.  It  is  told  of  the 
127 


The  Sevenfold  I  AM 

Sultan  Saladin  that  when  he  sat  in  state,  sur- 
rounded by  banners  and  trophies,  there  was 
hung  above  them  all  the  banner  of  Death, 
with  the  words,  "Saladin,  king  of  kings — 
Saladin,  victor  of  victors — Saladin  must  die." 
While  it  is  morbid  to  be  always  dwelling  on 
death,  it  is  good  for  us  at  times,  as  Samuel 
Rutherford  put  it,  to  "  forefancy  our  death- 
bed." And  our  Lord's  words  were  not 
spoken  with  any  indifference  as  to  death.  He 
who  spoke  them  wept,  groaned,  was  troubled, 
ere  He  could  perform  His  work  of  mercy 
and  power.  Even  in  the  moment  of  lighten- 
ing the  world's  sorrow  He  felt  deeply  what 
that  sorrow  was.  "  It  is  not  with  a  heart  of 
stone  that  the  dead  are  raised."  That  very 
fact  gives  additional  significance  to  His 
words.  Death  is  mighty,  but  Christ  is 
mightier.  We  can  realise  the  mingled  fear 
and  joy  of  those  who  first  heard  that  He 
could  not  be  holden  of  death — that  He  was 
the  living,  the  risen  Lord.  For  it  is  on  His 
own  Resurrection  that  the  very  existence  of 
His  Church  depends.  "If  Christ  be  not 
risen,  then  is  our  preaching  vain,  and  your 
128 


Christ  and  Our  Deadness 

faith  is  also  vain."  His  work  did  not  end 
with  the  Cross.  He  was  no  mere  martyr 
suffering  at  the  hands  of  wicked  men.  There 
was  a  Divine  purpose  in  His  sacrifice,  and  that 
sacrifice  was  not  complete  until  His  victory 
over  sin  and  death  had  been  accomplished. 

As  Christ  is  "The  Resurrection"  in 
virtue  of  having  personally  overcome  death, 
He  is  also  "  The  Resurrection "  as  the 
pledge  of  immortality  in  His  followers. 
"  He  that  believeth  in  Me,  though  he  were 
dead,  yet  shall  he  live."  "  If  we  believe," 
writes  St.  Paul,  "  that  Jesus  died  and  rose 
again,  even  so  them  also  which  sleep  in  Jesus 
will  God  bring  with  Him."  There  have,  it 
is  true,  been  hopes  of  immortality  apart  from 
Christ.  Men  have  felt  that  the  powers  God 
has  given  them  are  too  good  to  be  allowed 
to  perish  as  if  they  had  never  been  ;  that  the 
love  which  cements  the  hearts  of  husband 
and  wife,  brother  and  sister,  parent  and  child, 
will  not  be  left  without  its  final  satisfaction. 
But  not  until  Christ  had  overcome  death  was 
the  foundation  laid  of  that  firm  trust  which 
can  look  calmly  and  confidently  through  the 
I  129 


The  Sevenfold  I  AM 

gate  of  death  to  the  undiscovered  country  be- 
yond. A  firm  belief  in  God  and  a  firm  hope 
of  immortality  go  hand  in  hand  ;  and  the 
same  Lord  who  revealed  the  face  of  God  as 
it  had  never  been  revealed  before,  showed 
I  man  also  his  own  true  dignity  as  born  to 
i  hold  eternal  fellowship  with  God.  Hence 
the  appropriate  symbols  on  a  Christian  tomb 
are  not  the  urn,  the  death's  head,  or  the 
broken  column,  signifying  nothing  but  cor- 
ruption and  decay,  but  rather  the  shield  of 
faith,  the  anchor  of  hope,  the  cross  of  redemp- 
tion ;  and  their  most  becoming  inscriptions 
are  not  those  which  extol  the  virtues  of  the 
departed,  but  those  which  speak  of  belief  in 
I  a  world  to  come.  The  Christian  hope 
centres  in  the  Person  of  Christ.  He  pro- 
claims Himself  here  as  the  embodiment  of 
that  hope,  and  by  His  own  Resurrection  the 
promise  was  sealed.  We  date  our  assurance 
of  immortality  from  the  hour 

When  from  the  grave  He  sprang  at  dawn  of  morn, 
And  led  through  boundless  air  thy  conquering  road, 
Leaving  a  glorious  track,  where  saints,  new-born. 
Might  fearless  follow  to  their  blest  abode. 
130 


Christ  and  Our  Deadncss 

\  But  the  name  "Resurrection,"  as  applied 
to  Christ,  covers  more  than  His  victory  over 
physical  death,  either  for  Himself  or  for 
/  His  followers.  In  His  teaching,  especially 
as  interpreted  by  St.  John,  death  is  scarcely 
ever  thought  of  in  a  purely  physical  sense. 
He  sometimes  even  discouraged  the  use  of 
the  word  to  signify  the  dissolution  of  the 
body,  preferring  to  employ  the  term  "  sleep." 
It  is  not,  then,  merely  from  death  of  this 
sort  that  Christ  delivers  His  people.  He 
has  come  to  raise  men  from  the  spiritual 
j  death  in  which  they  are  involved,  and  to 
/  make  them  partakers  of  the  divine  life  of 
\  fellowship  with  God.  Those  who  hear  Him 
and  believe  in  God  are  described  as  having 
"  passed  from  death  unto  life "  ;  and  St. 
John  uses  the  same  expression  in  his  first 
Epistle  to  indicate  those  who,  by  their  love 
to  the  brethren,  show  that  they  have  under- 
gone the  same  change.  All  His  saving  of 
the  lost — all  His  response  to  our  needs  and 
sicknesses — all  His  work  as  the  Way,  the 
Bread,  the  Door,  the  Light,  the  Shepherd — 
may  be  regarded  as  part  of  the  Resurrection- 
131 


The   Sevenfold  I  AM 

work  of  Christ.  In  all  that  we  do  to  raise 
men  from  a  life  of  sin  to  a  life  of  righteous- 
ness— from  trust  in  themselves  to  union 
with  Christ — we  are  aiding  Him  in  the  same 
work.  "He  that  believeth  in  Me,  though 
he  were  dead,  yet  shall  he  live.'* 

2.  The  Life. 

i 

Resurrection  is  an  act ;  Life  a  condition. 
Resurrection  points  back  to  a  previous  state 
of  life  ;  it  is  life  re-assumed  after  temporary 
withdrawal.  Christ  is  the  Restorer  of  life 
because  He  is  the  Giver  of  life  ;  and  He  is 
the  Giver  of  life  because  He  has  life  in  Him- 
self. "  In  Him  was  life  ;  and  the  life  was 
the  light  of  men."  His  Resurrection  was 
but  His  re-assumption  of  what  was  His  from 
the  beginning.  Wondrous  fact  though  it 
was,  it  was  not  the  greatest  and  most  cardinal 
fact  Greater  still  is  His  possession  from 
eternity  of  the  Divine  life.  Life  is  the  most 
difficult  of  all  things  to  define,  and  many 
have  been  man's  attempts  to  explain  its 
meaning  and  origin.  The  Christian  view 
places  the  source  of  all  life  in  God.  "  The 
132 


Christ  and  Our  Deadness 

system,"  writes  Professor  Flint,  "of  which 
the  first  word  is.  In  the  beginning  there  was 
nothing  except  space  and  atoms,  has  for  its 
last  word.  Eternal  Death  ;  as  the  system  of 
which  the  first  word  is,  In  the  beginning 
God  created  the  heavens  and  the  earth,  has 
for  its  last  word.  Eternal  Life."  God  is  the 
source  of  all  personality  and  life,  and  all  the 
fulness  of  God's  life  is  present  in  Christ 

"I  am  the  Life  .  .  .  whosoever  liveth 
and  believeth  in  Me,  shall  never  die."  As 
Christ  can  restore  the  dead  to  life,  so  He 
can  preserve  the  living  from  death.  As  salt 
has  at  once  a  quickening  and  a  preserving 
power — a  power  to  maintain  as  well  as  a 
power  to  bestow — so  Christ,  the  Life,  can 
make  us  partakers  of  His  life,  and  preserve 
us  from  death.  The  life  of  the  believer  In 
Christ  is  ever  striking  its  roots  deeper  and 
deeper,  ever  getting  nearer  and  nearer  to  the 
source  of  life.  Jesus  can  truly  say,  therefore, 
that  such  a  man  shall  never  die  ;  for  while 
his  life  on  earth  must  end,  the  higher  life  by 
which  he  is  united  to  Christ  is  immortal. 
When  we  fully  realise  what  life  in  Christ 
^33 


The  Sevenfold  I  AM 

may  mean,  it  will  seem  almost  absurd  to 
think  that  the  close  of  earthly  existence  can 
terminate  it. 

From  this  it  is  obvious  that  Life,  like 
Resurrection,  cannot  possibly  be  used  here  in 
any  merely  physical  sense.  It  must  transcend 
any  such  idea  as  the  mere  prolongation  of 
existence.  While  the  promise  of  Christ 
doubtless  includes  immortality,  it  includes 
far  more.  It  means  life  on  a  higher  plane, 
life  hid  with  Christ  in  God.  It  means 
fellowship  with  God,  and  participation  in 
His  nature.  It  unfolds  the  idea  dimly 
present  to  the  mind  of  Abigail  when  she 
said  to  David,  "  The  soul  of  my  lord  shall 
be  bound  in  the  bundle  of  life  with  the  Lord 
thy  God."  Christ  draws  a  line,  not  so 
much  between  present  and  future,  as  between 
higher  and  lower.  The  gulf  between  this 
world  and  the  next  is  less  wide  than  that 
which  here  and  now  separates  life  with  God 
from  life  without  God.  "  He  that  hath  the 
Son  hath  Life  ;  and  he  that  hath  not  the  Son 
of  God  hath  not  Life." 

Thus,  if  the  act  of  turning  to  Christ  is 

134 


Christ  and  Our  Deadness 

necessary  for  our  restoration  to  life,  the 
condition  of  abiding  in  Him  is  equally 
necessary  for  the  preserving  of  our  life.  As 
the  Way  is  to  the  Door,  so  is  Life  to  Re- 
surrection. If  many  of  us  feel  the  need  of 
being  raised  up  by  Christ  from  our  state 
of  spiritual  deadness,  there  are  others  who 
feel  their  chief  need  to  be  that  of  preserving 
the  life  that  they  have,  lest  they  lose  it  or 
fall  from  it.  For  such  it  is  good  to  remember 
that  Christ  is  not  only  the  Resurrection,  but 
the  Life  ;  that  Resurrection,  indeed,  is  only 
the  entrance  into  Life  ;  that  He  who  said 
«  Come  unto  Me,'*  said  also  "Abide  in  Me." 

What  our  Lord  promises  us  here,  then, 
is  Life  under  two  aspects — its  renewal  and  its 
continuance.  He  is  the  Resurrection  ;  there- 
fore the  dead  who  believe  shall  live.  He  is 
the  Life  ;  therefore  the  living  who  be]ieve 
shall  not  die.  The  two  Sacraments  of  the 
Church  afford  illustrations  of  the  same  two- 
fold truth.  Baptism,  the  first  sacrament, 
speaks  to  us  of  renewal,  of  the  new  birth,  of 
our  burial  with  Christ,  and  our  rising  with 

135 


The  Sevenfold  I  AM 

Him  to  newness  of  life.  "God,"  says  St. 
Peter,  "  hath  begotten  us  again  unto  a  lively 
hope  by  the  Resurrection  of  Jesus  Christ 
from  the  dead."  And  again,  "The  like 
figure  whereunto  Baptism  doth  also  now 
save  us  ...  by  the  Resurrection  of  Jesus 
Christ."  It  accordingly  takes  place  but  once  ; 
it  is  a  single  act ;  it  symbolises  the  conferring 
of  the  new  life.  But  if  Baptism  answers  to 
the  one  claim,  "I  am  the  Resurrection," 
the  Lord's  Supper  answers  to  the  other  and 
fuller  claim,  "I  am  the  Life."  It  represents 
to  us  a  perpetual  communion  with  the  living 
Christ ;  the  possession  of  Him  within  us 
as  the  source  and  means  of  life.  "  He  that 
eateth  of  this  Bread  shall  live  for  ever."  It 
is  no  single  act,  performed  only  once  on 
each  individual,  as  Baptism  is  ;  it  represents 
a  continuous  process,  like  the  assimilation 
of  food  ;  an  abiding  and  progressive  life. 
The  one  is  the  lighting  of  the  flame,  the 
other  its  tending  and  feeding.  The  one  is 
the  birth,  the  other  the  growth.  The  one 
speaks  of  regeneration,  the  other  of  sancti- 
fication.  In  His  sacraments,  then,  as  in  His 
136 


Christ  and  Our  Deadness 

words,  we  have  pledges  of  the  Eternal  Life 
which  Christ  imparts.  They  are  signs  and 
seals  attesting  the  twin  truths  that  Christ  is 
always  able  to  revive  us  if  we  are  dead,  and 
to  sustain  us  if  we  are  alive.  And  it  is  this 
quickening  and  sustaining  power  that  we  all 
want.  Deadness  is  our  chief  curse,  life  our 
most  pressing  need.  Amid  all  the  deadness 
of  our  spiritual  state,  there  is  hope  for  us  if 
only  we  lay  hold  on  Christ.  "  In  Him,  he 
who  is  dead  is  sure  of  life,  and  he  who  lives 
is  sure  never  to  die." 


"I  am  the  Resurrection  and  the  Life" 
closes  our  series  of  meditations  on  the  / 
arns  of  our  Lord.  It  will  be  noticed  that 
these  have  not  been  treated  in  the  exact 
order  in  which  they  appear  in  Scripture. 
But  if  any  apology  be  needed  for  this,  one 
can  point  to  the  precedent  set  by  the  author 
of  the  Fourth  Gospel  himself,  who  arranged 
his  material  in  such  a  way  as  would  best 
serve  the  end  he  had  in  view — the  presenta- 
tion of  Jesus  to  the  world  as  Christ  the  Son 
of  God.  The  purpose  aimed  at  in  this  little 
137 


The  Sevenfold  I  AM 

book  (to  compare  small  things  with  great) 
has  been  to  present  what  may  be  called  a 
ladder  of  spiritual  progress,  by  climbing  the 
several  steps  of  which  the  follower  of  Christ 
may  experience  His  response  to  each  suc- 
cessive need.  The  order  of  such  experience 
is  not,  of  course,  the  same  in  every  case  ; 
it  is  capable,  indeed,  of  infinite  variety.  But 
the  order  followed  here  would  seem  to  be 
one  in  which  our  Lord  often  presents  Him- 
self to  His  people,  as  affording  a  gradually 
increasing  satisfaction  for  needy  souls.  We 
are  in  darkness,  and  He  reveals  Himself  as 
a  Light  that  we  may  see,  and  follow,  and 
possess.  This  Light,  however,  serves  but  to 
show  the  poverty  of  our  estate  ;  and  accord- 
ingly  His  next  offer  is  that  of  a  Door  to 
shelter  us ;  a  home  where  we  can  remain 
and  dwell  with  Him.  But  even  this  resting- 
place  reminds  us  that  we  have  still  far  to 
travel  ere  we  reach  our  journey's  end  ;  and 
our  cry  for  direction  is  met  by  a  Way — a 
way  of  Truth  and  Life  by  which  we  shall  at 
length  reach  the  Father.  Even  on  the  way, 
however,  we  are  helpless  ;  we  wander  from 

138 


The  Sevenfold  I  AM 

It,  we  faintj  we  are  scattered  abroad  ;  we 
want  a  living  guide,  a  Good  Shepherd  who 
will  give  His  very  life  for  us,  and  who 
knows  us  all  by  name.  Scarcely  is  this  want 
in  its  turn  supplied,  when  we  are  conscious 
of  yet  another  ;  the  need  of  a  strength  within 
as  well  as  without ;  something  that  will  make 
us  less  like  sheep  and  more  like  men.  This 
we  find  in  the  Bread  of  Life  ;  Christ  within 
us  as  our  strength  and  hope.  Then  the 
union  between  Him  and  us  becomes  closer 
still ;  we  begin  to  work  for  Him  as  well 
as  He  for  us  ;  we  become  branches  of  the 
True  Vine,  abiding  in  it  and  bringing  forth 
fruit.  And  finally.  He,  who  has  done  all 
else  for  us,  destroys  that  last  enemy  which  is 
death  ;  gives  Himself  to  us  as  the  Resurrec- 
tion and  the  Life  ;  confers  upon  us,  main- 
tains in  us,  an  eternal  fellowship  with  God. 
Thus,  leading  us  on  from  strength  to 
strength,  does  Christ  fulfil  for  us  the  great 
/  am  of  the  Apocalypse,  inclusive  of  all  the 
rest — "  I  am  Alpha  and  Omega,  the  First 
and  the  Last." 

139 


APPENDIX 

Some  Additional  Reading 

These  sayings  of  our  Lord  are  treated  with 
more  or  less  fulness  in  the  various  exegetical 
works  on  St.  John's  Gospel.  Among  them 
may  be  mentioned  the  commentaries  by 
Milligan  and  Moulton,  Godet,  and  Marcus 
Dods ;  and  (more  popular  in  character) 
Maclaren  in  Bible  -  Class  Expositions y  and 
Campbell  Morgan  in  The  Analysed  Bible. 

More  special  treatment  is  given  to  the 
various  titles  of  our  Lord  in  Westcott's 
Revelation  of  the  Father^  Spurgeon's  The 
Messiahy  Warfield's  The  Lord  of  Glory, 
Miss  Annie  Small,  in  her  recent  illuminative 
little  book,  Studies  in  the  Gospel  of  St.  John^  has 
a  chapter  entitled  "The  Sevenfold  ^I  Am.' " 

Of  the  individual  names  and  titles,  The 
Light  of  the  Wo'^ld  has  been  oftener  used  than 
141 


Appendix 

any  of  the  others  as  a  title  for  works  dealing 
with  our  Lord's  Person  and  work.  In  many 
cases,  however  (as  In  Sir  Edwin  Arnold's 
poem,  and  the  able  collection  of  essays  en- 
titled Lux  Mundi)y  the  reference  is  rather  to 
His  whole  personality  than  to  this  particular 
aspect  of  it.  His  claim  and  its  justification 
are  well  stated  in  Row's  Manual  of  Christian 
Evidences,  Part  I.  ch.  i.  See  also  Phillips 
Brooks's  sermons, "  The  Light  of  the  World," 
"  The  Candle  of  the  Lord,"  "  The  Mystery  of 
Light." —  T/ie  JVay,  the  Truth,  and  the  Life 
receive  careful  if  somewhat  laboured  treatment 
inDr.  Hort'sHulsean  lectures  published  under 
this  title.  See  also  Paget's  Christ  the  Way. 
But  the  best  commentary  on  the  "Way" 
is  The  Pilgrim  s  Progress. — On  The  Good 
Shepherd  there  are  sermons  by  F.  W. 
Robertson  (2nd  series)  and  Newman  (vol. 
viil.  p.  230).  The  specially  pastoral  work 
of  Christ  is  ably  dealt  with  in  Latham's 
Pastor  Pastorum, — The  Bread  of  Life  is  treated 
of  in  many  manuals  on  the  Holy  Communion. 
See  also  John  Macleod  Campbell,  Christ  the 
Bread  of  Life ;  James  M.  Campbell,  The 
142 


Appendix 

Christ  in  Man  ;  and  sermons  by  Newman 
(vol.  vi.  p.  136),  and  by  Phillips  Brooks 
{^The  Candle  of  the  Lordy  p.  232 — "Christ 
the  Food  of  Man  ").— On  The  True  Vine,  see 
Macmillan,  Bible  Teachings  in  Nature,  p.  74  ; 
A.  Murray,  Abide  in  Christ ;  and,  for  a 
beautifully  developed  allegory  of  the  Vine, 
Mrs.  Hamilton  King's  poem.  The  Sermon  in 
the  Hospital'' — The  Resurrection  and  the  Life 
will  be  best  studied  in  connection  with  our 
Lord's  Resurrection  and  its  bearing  on  our 
own.  On  this  subject  Professor  William 
Milligan's  Resurrection  of  our  Lord,  and  the 
same  author's  Resurrection  of  the  Dead^  will 
be  found  of  value. 


143 


INDEX 

A.  SCRIPTURE  PASSAGES 

PAGE 

PAGE 

I  Sam.  XXV.  29    .     ,     . 

134 

St.  John  vi.  5      ...      86 

2  Sam.  XV.  21 .     .     .     . 

72 

vii.  37,  38. 

7 

Ps.  XXV.  10      .... 

50 

ix.  34-38  . 

25 

„    xlvi.    I        .      .      .      . 

31 

„        x.  10     .     . 

59 

,,   Ixxvii.  19  ...     . 

§2 

XV.  15   . 

56 

„    Ixxx.  I        .      .      .     , 

68 

,,        xvm.  37 

54 

»   xcy.  7 

68 

Acts  X.  17  .     .     . 

58 

„   cxix.  105  .... 

16 

„     xvii.  23  .     . 

57 

Prov.  XX.  27    .     ,     , 

19 

Rom.  xii.  5 

81 

Isa.  ix.  2 

5 

2  Cor.  iii.  17   ,     , 

33 

„    xxviii.  10,  13      . 

1^ 

,,      iv.  10    .     . 

99 

„    xl.  II 

„    liii.  6  .       ... 

Ezek.  XV.  3,  4.     .     . 

,,     xxxiv.  2,  3  .     . 

,,     xxxiv.  23    .     . 

68 

77 
107 

75 
68 

Eph.  v.  13  .     .     , 

Phil.  iii.  13,  14    . 

„     iv.  13      .     . 

I  Thess.  iv.  14     . 

10 

62 

117 

129 

Zech.  xi.  5       ... 

75 

Heb.  i.  1-3     . 

.      56 

St.  Matt.  vii.  13,  14  . 

43,  44 

I  Peter  i.  3      . 

.     136 

„       xi.  28    .     . 

.     135 

„       iii.  21 

.     136 

St.  Luke  i.  79      .     . 

5 

„       v.  2,  4 

69,76 

„        ii.  II    .     . 

.      68 

I  John  i.  5  .     . 

4 

St.  John  i.  4    .     .     . 

.     132 

„       ii.  17  . 

.       96 

„      i.  4,  5,  9     . 

5 

„        Y.  12  . 

.     134 

„      i.  18 .     .     . 

.      57 

Rev.  i.  II  .     . 

.     139 

„       iii.  19-21    . 

12 

„     iii.  I  .     . 

.     115 

„      iv.  14     .     . 

.      89 

„     iii.  20     ....       24 

B,  SCRI 

PTURE 

:  CHARACTERS 

Abel,  67. 

David,  67,  68,  72,  134. 

Abigail,  134. 

Demas,  38. 

Amos,  67. 

Ittai,  72. 

Blind  Man,  The,  25, 

Jacob,  67. 

Cornelius,  58. 

John,  St.,  18. 

K 

I 

+5 

Index 


Judas,  38. 

Laban,  d*], 

Martha,  126. 

Moses,  ()*]. 

Paul,  St.,  58. 

Peter,  St.,  48,  58,  69. 

Philip,  St.,  49,  Zd, 


Pilate,  54. 

Shepherds  of  Bethlehem,  The, 

67. 

Thomas,  St.,  48,  49,  51. 
Wise  Men,  The,  16. 
Woman  of  Samaria,  The,  88, 
Zacharias,  5. 


C.  SUBJECTS 


Abiding  in  Christ,  113-117. 
Acceptance  of  Christ,  93. 
Baptism,  135-136. 
Campbell,  John  Macleod,  26. 
Confidence,  Mutual,  78-79. 
Cross,  The,  28. 
Death  of  Christ,   77-79,  96- 

99. 
Decision,  38-39. 
Du(E  VicBf  52. 
Following  Christ,  15- 1 6, 

71-72. 
Fox,X^eorge,  17. 
Freedom,  32-35. 
Fruitfulness,  109-113. 
Holy  Spirit,  The,  56,  60,  114. 
Illumination,  ia-12,  16-18. 
Immortality,  129-130. 
Individuality  and  Unity,  80. 
Janus,  Temple  of,  23. 
Kedron,  Valley  of,  106. 


Life,  58-60,  92-100,  131-137. 

Nurture,  35-37. 

Pascal,  112. 

Persia,  Religion  of,  4. 

Pirate^  The^  30. 

Progress,  45,  61. 

Quakers,  Early,  17. 

Refuge,  30-32. 

Revelation,  10-12,  54-57. 

Sacrifice  of  Christ,  77-79, 

96-99. 
Saladin,  128. 
Sanctuary,  30-32. 
Sardis,  Church  of,  116. 
Shorthouse,  J.  H.,  112. 
Siloam,  Fountain  of,  6. 
Supper,  The  Lord's,  59,  98, 

99,  106,  136. 
Tabernacles,  Feast  of,  6,  '^, 
Watts,  Isaac,  117. 
Wesley,  John,  112. 


D,  QUOTATIONS 


Augustine,  St.,  46. 
Bernard,  St.,  46. 
Browning,  39. 
Bunyan,  16. 
Calvin,  47. 
Carlyle,  1 10. 
Clephane,  E.  C,  78. 
Cumming,  Dr.  Elder,  29. 
Dante,  52. 
Doane,  G.  W.,  47. 
Dods,  Marcus,  36,  92. 


146 


Flint,  Professor,  133. 

Froude,  J.  A.,  iii. 

Gladstone,  113. 

Godet,  F.,  61. 

Keble,  32,  130. 

Kempis,  Thomas  ^,  46-47. 

King,  H.  E.  Hamilton,  105, 

107. 
Luther,  47,  100. 
Milman,  Dean,  31. 
Milton,  17,  74,  III. 


Index 


Mott,  J.  R.,  14. 
Newman,  Cardinal,  16. 
Patrick,  St.,  94- 
Robertson,  William,  72. 
Rutherford,  Samuel,  128. 
Savonarola,  26. 
Shakspere,  18. 
Shorter  Catechism,  60. 


Socrates,  59. 
Spenser,  71. 
Stone,  S.  J.,  98. 
Tennyson,  15,  7 1. 
Toplady,  A.  M.,  32. 
Wesley,  Charles,  32. 
Whitfield,  George,  117. 
Wilberforce,  William,  1 1 


147 


THE 

SHORT  COURSE  SERIES 

EDITED  BY 
Rev.  JOHN  ADAMS,  B.D. 


This  Series  is  designed  to  encourage  a  healthy  reaction  in 
the  direction  of  expository  preaching.  Leading  expositors  in 
all  the  Churches  have  kindly  promised  assistance;  and  the 
Series,  to  be  issued  at  the  uniform  price  of  60  cents  net  per 
volume,  will  furnish  a  sufl&ciently  large  variety  for  individual 
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By  Prof.  J.  E.  McFadyen,  D.D.,  U.  F.  C.  College, 
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THE  BEATITUDES. 

By  Rev.  Robert  H.  Fisher,  D.D.,  Edinburgh. 

THE  LENTEN  PSALMS. 

By  the  Editor. 

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By  Prof.  James  Stalker,  D.D.,  Aberdeen. 

THE  SONG  AND  THE  SOH.. 

By  Prof.  W.  G.  Jordan,  D.D.,  Kingston,  Ontario. 

THE  HIGHER  POWERS  OF  THE  SOUL. 

By  Rev.  George  M'Hardy,  D.D.,  Kirkcaldy. 

JEHOVAH-JESUS. 

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THE  SEVENFOLD  I  AM. 

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THE  MAN  AMONG  THE  MYRTLES:  A  Study  in 
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SCENES  FROM  THE  LIFE  OF  DAVID. 

By  Prof.  H.  R.  Mackintosh,  D.D.,  Edinburgh. 

A  MIRROR  OF  THE  SOUL :  Studies  in  the  Psalter. 

By  Rev.  Canon  Vaughan,  M.A.,  Winchester. 

STUDIES  IN  THE  BOOK  OF  JOB. 

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THE  PROPHECY  OF  MICAH. 

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THE  EXPOSITORY  VALUE  OF  THE  REVISED 
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By  Prof.  G.  Melligan,  D.D.,  University  of  Glasgow. 

A  PREFACE  TO  THE  GOSPEL:  An  Exposition  of 
Isaiah  55. 

By  Rev.  A  Smellie,  D.D.,  Carluke. 

THE  SON  OF  MAN. 

By  Prof.  Andrew  C.  Zenos,  D.D.,  Chicago. 

READINGS  IN  THE  GOSPEL  OF  ST.  LUKE. 

By  Prof.  W.  Emery  Barnes,  D.D.,  Cambridge. 

THE  PARABLE  OF  THE  PRODIGAL  SON. 

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BELIEF  AND  LIFE:    Expositions  in  the  Fourth 
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By  Principal  W.  B.  Selbie,  D.D.,  Mansfield  College, 
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THE  EMOTIONS  OF  JESUS. 

By  Prof.  Robert  Law,  D.D.,  roronto, 

THE  OVERTURES  OF  JESUS. 

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THE  SEVEN  WORDS  FROM  THE  CROSS. 

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THE  METAPHORS  OF  ST.  PAUL. 

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THE  HOLY  SPIRIT. 

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Ireland. 

THE  REDEMPTION  OF  GOD. 

By  Prof.  T.  B.  Kilpatrick,  D.D.,  Toronto. 

STUDIES  IN  THE  APOCALYPSE. 

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